The Apocalypse Gal Weighs in on the Election

Now that I've had a bit of time to process these election results, let me make a post.  Here's my overall take away:  we are headed into hard times.  We were always headed into hard times, and while the shape of those hard times may be affected by the Trump presidency (and the outcomes will be), the election of Harris would not have avoided those hard times.

You may say, "Yes, Apocalypse Gal, Kristin, you always think we're headed into hard times."  That's true, and I'm often right in the overall drift to hard times, if not the particulars.  But let me elaborate:

--In the past two weeks, bird flu was found in people who didn't have close connection to farm animals, in two people who lived together, which makes some scientists think it's airborne in ways it hasn't been before.

--In the past two weeks, bird flu was found in pigs.  Pigs are the animal where flus combine and become more transmissible.

--It is unseasonably warm as I write this (60 degrees in mid-November!), and we are on track to have the hottest year of human life on earth so far.

--There are wars and rumors of war.

--Just this morning, I read that the German governing coalition has collapsed.

So, the shape of the hard times coming, as I see it, involves flu and war and climate change.  No one will be able to make those things go away, and we've seen that most humans don't have much capacity for navigating countries to safety.  It was always going to be a rough 4 years, no matter who won.

Let the Republicans see what they can do.  Let the Democrats dream of something different to present to voters in 2028.  Let us see what happens.  Let us get our vaccines; there is a bird flu vaccine already, so that's good news.  Let us figure out how to make our communities more resilient against all the climate change threats that are going to intensify for us and for our children and grandchildren.

Someone needs to keep the longer view in mind.  It might as well be us.