{"id":366,"date":"2023-11-27T18:15:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/?p=366"},"modified":"2024-10-09T17:18:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T17:18:35","slug":"state-level-policymaking-bodies-and-organizations-weather-climate-analogies-relating-to-policy-determination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/27\/state-level-policymaking-bodies-and-organizations-weather-climate-analogies-relating-to-policy-determination\/","title":{"rendered":"State-level policymaking bodies and organizations: \u2018weather, climate analogies\u2019 relating to policy determination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

\u201cThe Line Storm\u201d \/ 1935,\u00a0 John Steuart Curry \u00a0U.S. artist (1897\u20131946). [i]<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Once I dipt into the future far as \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

human eye could see,<\/em><\/p>\n

and I saw the Chief Forecaster, <\/em><\/p>\n

dead as any one can be.<\/em><\/p>\n

dead and damned and shut in<\/em><\/p>\n

Hades as a liar from his birth,<\/em><\/p>\n

with a record of unreason<\/em><\/p>\n

seldom paralleled on earth.<\/em><\/p>\n

while I looked, he reared him<\/em><\/p>\n

solemnly, that incandescent youth,<\/em><\/p>\n

from the coals that he\u2019dpreferred to the advantages of truth.<\/em><\/p>\n

he cast his eyes about him and<\/em><\/p>\n

above him; then he wrote<\/em><\/p>\n

on a slab of thin asbestos what<\/em><\/p>\n

I venture here to quote,<\/em><\/p>\n

for I read it in the rose-light of<\/em><\/p>\n

the everlasting glow:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCloudy, variable winds, with<\/em><\/p>\n

local showers; cooler, snow.\u201d<\/em>[iii]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Pop Quiz<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Name at least one of the four common weather fronts recognized by meteorologists.<\/li>\n
  2. T or F. There are few microclimates in West Virginia, although the definition of microclimates varies.<\/li>\n
  3. T or F. Weather proverbs are telling, although not always exact.<\/li>\n
  4. T or F. Altitudes affect elevations differently.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (Answers in Endnote.[iv]<\/a>)<\/p>\n


    Weather-auguring. <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Those reared on farms gain inordinate respect for weather.<\/p>\n

    Farmers augur about the weather, relying largely on scientific forecasting accuracy. My grandmother, however, also had\u00a0 allegiance to\u00a0 \u201csigns of the Moon.\u201d[v]<\/a><\/p>\n

    When a wiseacre eldest grandson confronted her with the incongruence of her normative Christian faith and its admonitions against astrology,[vi]<\/a> she responded with matriarchal pragmatism – \u201cMaybe. Maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Farming involves gambling with the weather:<\/p>\n

    Farmers rely on good weather to grow our food – too much rain can lead to rotting plants, and sufficient rainfall makes it difficult to grow crops and feed animals. Too much wind can make planting difficult, and freezing temperatures can stunt plant growth. [vii]<\/a><\/p>\n

    Mixing climatology and meteorology:[viii]<\/a><\/p>\n

    Land and weather go hand in hand when determining everyday forecasts. As the atmosphere moves over different types of terrain, weather characteristics change.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s consider an analogy based on state-level policymakers \u2018residing\u2019 at higher altitudes or elevations. [ix]<\/a><\/p>\n

    From these climes, policymakers\u2019 actions affect those at various organizational \u201celevations,\u201d especially at the \u2018ground-level.\u2019 [x]<\/a><\/p>\n

    Operating from higher elevations, policymakers \u201cview\u201d \u00a0ground-happenings from a 30,000, 360-degree vantage. [xi]<\/a><\/p>\n

    Those on the ground may fear policymakers\u2019 aims will disrupt or disturb the long-negotiated \u2018balance\u2019 that exists between the organization as a whole and its segments, comprising the evolved architecture of how the organization works, reinforced by its culture to protect core \u201cnon-negotiable\u201d values. [xii]<\/a><\/p>\n

    Not surprisingly, state-level policymakers may conclude this <\/em>organizational \u2018balance\u2019 impedes policymakers\u2019 aims, including higher-level results, outputs, efficiencies.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u2018Weatherproofing.\u2019<\/strong>[xiii]<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u201cWeatherproofing\u201d allows organizations to modify, mitigate or reshape state-level policymakers\u2019 aims.<\/p>\n

    \u201cCant\u201d is the most basic weatherproofing[xiv]<\/a> \u2013 (often can\u2019t<\/em> or won\u2019t<\/em> to state-level policymakers, rhetoric, \u201chappy talk\u201d[xv]<\/a> or even hooey to others). Cant serves as worthy weatherproofing until policymakers embrace other truths, readying such to achieve concentrated policy aims. Note:<\/u> Based on this writer\u2019s work with state-level policymaking bodies, both rationality and expansiveness, the tension between those two ideals provides a format for policymaking. Paraphrasing poet T.S. Eliot, \u00a0\u201c\u2019All significant (policymaker or organizational) truths are private (policymaker or organizational) truths.\u2019\u201d The melding of those \u201cprivate truths,\u201d \u00a0as held by both policymaking bodies and organizations, inform the policymaking process, creating sound policy.<\/p>\n

    Weatherproofing is also typified by the linguistic conjunction \u2018but<\/em>,\u2019 with especial emphasis on contrasts: \u201cthe \u00a0sky is brilliant, clear, sunshiny, but its\u2019s very cold.\u201d This weatherproofing signals the organization \u201cacknowledges\u201d state-level policymakers\u2019 aims have some merit, but <\/em>with these reservations.<\/p>\n

    The above weatherproofing examples amount to \u201ctypecasting,\u201d[xvi]<\/a> which, like weather-forecasting, relies upon \u201clongitudinal\u201d or historic organizational responses applied to current, prevailing, or prospective \u00a0policymakers\u2019 \u00a0aims.<\/p>\n

    Other examples of weatherproofing:<\/p>\n