So, Texas, huh?

I can’t offer a hot take on this mess. The scale of the devastation is too enormous, from human lives to permaculture plantations to (I can only hope) Ted Cruz’s 2024 presidential hopes. Christ, what an asshole.

And things are only going to get worse.

I checked in on friends in New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas this week, as well as some of the people I know in Texas, and the difference in their experience is stunning. Yes, they’re having some brownouts and downed lines and broken pipes and problems keeping old houses warm—but it’s not like Texas. And the difference, of course, is the electrical grid. New Mexico and Arkansas are getting the same weather as Texas—a bit colder, even—but New Mexico and Arkansas are connected to power grids that are regulated by the federal government, not de-regulated by the government of the state of Texas.

It turns out that maybe essential services shouldn’t just break when it gets a little colder than usual. Wind turbines work fine in subzero temperatures if you winterize them. So do nuclear power plants. Individual emergency preparedness is not a replacement for governments. This is what we have governments for.