When the Volcano Blows

'I don't know where I'm gonna go, when the volcano blows.'
Jimmy Buffet
Hawaii's volcano. and tourist attraction, Kilauea, is erupting, sort of. Lava is streaming out and folks are fleeing. but, the real blow up has not hit. This is more like minor vomiting. Big eruptions are, in our time, somewhat rare, blessedly. Mt. St. Helens blew some years back and was pretty scary. The big damage is from the falling, burning ash. The initial rush, the pyro plastic flow is devastating, with temperatures in the 1000s of degrees.
 This got me thinking of two things. First, I wonder how many people are looking at this and thinking of it as some sort of Divine punishment, or, conversely, as the work of old, dark gods and powers. More that will admit it, think that. I guarantee you. This is why I write so often about the impoerance of rational thought. Volcanic activity is simply a matter of hot molten rocks and gases, always present in the Earth, building up pressure and, when it reaches a certain point, it releases, sometimes as lava flows and sometimes in a big blow. We simply cannot predict these events because there are too many factors. This is the basic idea of Chaos Theory. But there are rational causes. That is definite.
Second, and more important, is the Yellowstone Caldera. It is huge and, geologically, is overdo for eruption. Now, in geologic terms, overdo means it could go in 10 seconds or 10000 years, but by all accounts, its level has risen a fair bit, and Yellowstone is having a lot of earth tremors, which is not encouraging. A minor blow would be devastating, a major one, catastrophic. Not just because of the massive lava flow and the falling ash that would spread far and wide, sparking fires over a huge area. There is also the likelihood of sudden intense climate change. When Krakatoa blew, years ago, it caused what was called 'the year with no simmer' in Europe. The ash blocked the Sunlight and things just stayed chilly until it all dissipated. That eruption, while major, was nothing compared to what a full eruption of Yellowstone would be. Remember, no Sun, no plants, no food.
Not surprisingly, the Government seems to have given this not a bit of thought
Then again, maybe they have and are just waiting for the press to ask, which is unlikely since all the media cares about is who Trump may have had sex with before he ran for office, That and the latest Jay-Z/Kanye exchange.
Or maybe everyone just figures that there is nothing to do, no plans to make because such an event would just be the end of the show. Lights out, curtain down. Been a nice run, but the show has closed. Stay tuned for the next production.. Maybe?  But the Americans I knew, the ones that I grew up with would never give up that easy and usually would figure a solution. That, of course, would requires thought and work and we seem to have sworn off both.
So, I don't know where we're all gonna go when the volcano blows..