As we sat huddled under blankets, in the semi-dark, we could hear the putt-putt of our little inverter-generator chugging faithfully away, keeping the one light on and the batteries of the RV and our portable electronics charged.
It has been an almost hot autumn up to this point in NorCal. Today the strong winds turned cool. Cooling off is no longer an issue, keeping warm is now the task.
This is our fourth power outage and another is tentatively predicted for Wednesday. They will likely continue until we get significant rainfall, and that could be a month or more away.
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To every thing there is a season. I wonder if what I’m feeling is what a Roman felt as he watched the order and system of empire begin to fall away while barbarians gathered at the gates and across the passes.
It feels like the 20th century’s interconnected web of services and material goods production-and-delivery is beginning to unravel. If this is just a reminder of how reliant we are on electric power, it’s working. If it is the beginning of losing things to which we are accustomed, things which make our civilization possible, it is frightening.
I begin to suspect I have lived through the apex of the U.S. national trajectory. It appears I will see the beginning of its twilight years play out in my own twilight years.
To have experienced both American civilization and its university systems at the top of their curves was my very great fortune. Both appear now to be in decline. I am sad.
