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Meredith Whittaker

Not lost on me that it's nonprofit tech, app.watchduty.org, showing up & actually working in the midst of the LA fires (donate to them!)

Meanwhile platforms fail to surface key news, vital info is paywalled...

As I've been saying, we need a new tech paradigm, yesterday!

Watch DutyWatch Duty - Wildfire Maps & AlertsReal-time information about wildfire and firefighting efforts nearby

@mekeor @Mer__edith
What an idiotic stance to take. Altadena, which is being devastated by the Eaton Fire, is not a rich neighborhood. I have friends who live there whose homes are being affected. My cousin who lives elsewhere in LA area (not rich by any means) had to evacuate because fire knocked out electricity. Screw you for thinking that this fire is a social problem for the rich.

@tonyslatte @mekeor @Mer__edith Century-old houses in North Pasadena burned too; that's always been a minority/poor area. Pacific Palisades' gazillion-dollar homes get the attention but even the Palisades has (or had) modest homes built 70 years ago where mere mortals live. Those people, many retirees, have lost everything.

I tend to basically agree (edit: WITH Mekeor). This has been a known issue for as long
as I can remember. And people have been emigrating to CA in droves
for as long as I can remember.

Of course it sucks for people and I ALWAYS want my tax dollars to
go to helping. There 100% should be more firefighters and better
support.

It's hard to have an opinion like this because people
assume I mean that they should suffer.

I want everything to be done and more to help what is happening now.

People shouldn't be living in places where there WILL be fires. I live in
Vermont. Same thing here. We should do our best to keep moving people
away from the river plains THAT WILL FLOOD.




CC: @Mer__edith@mastodon.world


@pkw @mekeor I grew up in Los Angeles. We've always known that some of Malibu was built on fire-prone territory. AND we've never seen anything like this, spanning well beyond known at-risk areas into places like Altadena, and waging so much destruction. I think it's very dangerous to minimize what we're seeing or indulge in "told you so." There are longstanding issues that are metastasizing due to climate change and decades of neoliberal austerity. All of these are reasons.

@mekeor @Mer__edith not all rich people, they're simply (as usual) getting more attention.

@Mer__edith The number of people I've recommended Watch Duty to this week! And I had never heard of it until I joined Mastodon.

@Mer__edith Is there a comparable service for fires east of the Mississippi?
Watch duty does not cover that area.

@Mer__edith sounds to me like you are calling for a new _economic_ paradigm, one based on the efficiency of public information instead of the exclusivity (hence monetizability) of paywalls. I could not agree more! #NewEconomicThinking #OpenKnowledge

@Mer__edith thanks for the link. The framing is very interesting.