PLATFORM : As Natural as Rain

TV reporters burble breathlessly while reporting stories of people whose lives have been changed by the heavy rains and flooding of the last few weeks. Telegenic farmers on the rural fringes of Oxnard stand helplessly by as their strawberries float away, bobbing on a turbid flow of saturated topsoil. Cameras watch over grief-stricken householders in Malibu as a creek surges through their living rooms, the water seeking the shortest distance to the sea.

The story of rain is the story of California, and the story of taming the water is the story of California’s hubris. Whether the rain falls or doesn’t, through drought or flood, humans must learn to live with nature.

We have so altered the eco-system with our massive overlay of concrete and buildings that damage to humans and their property is an inevitable consequence. Yet rain is treated as an untoward occurrence, perpetuating the idea that humans can’t live in harmony with nature, but must subdue it instead.