Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2020

Abstract

Talking about flood as California's" other big one," otherwise known as a plausible natural disaster with the power to cause damage equivalent to that caused by a massive earthquake, does important work in capturing the imagination. Nearly a quarter submitted short stories about narrowly escaping death-by-ARkStorm, piling on the melodrama and watery metaphors. Because of its sheer scale, epic flooding is not hard to picture and/or to fear, even amidst the palm trees of Los Angeles.[...] I do fear that ignoring the more quotidian flare-ups and inundations and dry spells and snowstorms and other threats, the unevenly distributed" slow violence" that causes painful and sometimes fatal exposure, will allow a slew of dangerous environmental inequities to persist below the radar. Because as environmental justice activists have been reminding us for generations now, stop waiting for some damn event, the action is …

Keywords

flood, natural disaster, earthquake, imagination, ARkStorm, melodrama, watery metaphors, scale, epic flooding, Los Angeles, quotidian flare-ups, inundations, dry spells, snowstorms, slow violence, environmental inequities, environmental justice activists, generations, action

Discipline

Emergency and Disaster Management

Publication

MICHIGAN QUARTERLY REVIEW

Volume

59

Issue

2

First Page

237

Last Page

248

ISSN

0026-2420

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