As the US faces back-to-back major natural disasters, from intense hurricanes and flooding to massive wildfires, it strikes me as painfully obvious that knowledge of science and the development of new technologies are more important than ever. Early detection systems are important to predict future disasters to warn people early on how they should act. City infrastructure needs to improve so that floods can be prevented or mitigated, evacuations can be more effective, power can continue to work despite suboptimal conditions, people can continue to have access to clean drinking water, etc.
I have trouble understanding why some people don't want the tax money they pay to go towards making the cities they live in safer for themselves, especially when those technologies exist, are improving all the time, and they would create jobs. I imagine these are the same people who would want the government to give money to help aid their own communities in emergency situations and rebuild after massive destruction. I don't understand why there is this gap in understanding of how equally important it is for cities to be to be preventative and prepared in the first place. Some people have this idea because Hurricane Harvey lead to so much unprecedented damage that none of it could have been prevented, but that's simply not true. The city could have been better prepared for evacuations or the flood, even if the weather couldn't have been prevented. This should be a huge learning experience that informs all major US cities how to be better prepared for disasters, to save more lives communities in the future.
When the recent eclipse happened, there seemed to be this widespread feeling that people were generally happy that for a short time. Nothing else mattered and everyone was happy to share such an experience together, regardless of their differences. It was beautiful. Hundreds of years of scientific research allowed that to happen. Without Science, everyone would have just looked up at the sky and not known what was happening ahead of time, and would probably just think that the world was ending.
Science and technology have made all our lives better in more ways than I can hold in my head at one time. We have indoor plumbing and household appliances, the ability to access and spread so much info with our handheld phones, we live longer because of the benefits of vaccines and medicines (even if we have never even taken those vaccines or medicines, because they stopped diseases from spreading to us in the first place), etc. Technology is not the solution to everything, by any means, but it does produce opportunities that we can choose to use for the good of our society. It's likely that those who choose to innovate will be ahead in the long run, in terms of money and probably safety and comfort too. Those that choose crumbling infrastructure and fossil fuels (because they can't be bothered to update, don't want to spend the money, or want to cater to their benefactors) are going to regret it. These aren't issues that are going to affect our descendants in the distant future, they are affecting us now.
Edit:
I realize this is all easy to say after the fact. Hindsight is 20/20. There are obviously some cities, like Houston, that it are known to be prone to flooding. They are close to the water, they are flat, and they have flooded before. Obviously, also, preparing to fight wildfires and other disasters that are likely to happen in other areas requires different preparation. The first responders and volunteers have done an incredible job, but my point is more that we can do better to make to make their lives easier and safer.
I also realize that there is not unlimited money to go around in the government. Clearly this needs to be a priority despite that. It's hard to rip out existing infrastructure, but in some
places it's necessary. This is the perfect opportunity for Houston to be rebuilt as a new and great example of what other cities should do.
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