2021 Texas power crisis-Jocelyn Griffith by Jocelyn Griffith

What happened?!

83530 — 2025-08-21 19:55:46 UTC

In February of 2021, Texas experienced something that was unbelievable to most. There was a winter storm that brought freezing temperatures throughout most of Texas. Because of this period of time, electricity demand went through the roof. 3 severe winter storms swept across the united states. The people in Texas were stunned when there was no electricity. With the freezing temperatures and no electricity, the people and environment was doomed.

Impact on the people

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:01:26 UTC

The people were left in a total crisis. As power went out, everyone got desperate. Lighting fires for the first time and even starting there stoves to create heat. Still the people did not realize the major problem. The gas being released from the stoves ended up killing more then 40 people. Not only that, but if someone did not have a home during this time, there bodies would literally freeze in place. The official DEATH count was 210 but it is said over 700 could be related to this crisis.

Homeless person trying to stay out of the Cold.

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:02:28 UTC

Environment

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:04:31 UTC

This did not just leave physical damage on the people. The land itself was just as doomed. When the 3 severe storms went over Texas it left a deep freeze on everything, the plants, and the animals. It could take many years for these things to return back to normal.

Short intro

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:09:17 UTC

In February of 2021, the winter storm known as Uri hit Texas. Soon after it hit the power went out. This left people hopeless in freezing temperatures. It also effect the natural environment by freezing all of the land. The economy also lost billions...

A look from above of how it effected the land.

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:15:09 UTC

Economy

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:25:43 UTC

The 2021 power crisis in Texas had a huge impact on the economy. As the disaster amount continues to by added up still to this day, it is believed that the amount will fall in between 80-130 billion dollars. This amount is due to the power outage, and the infrastructure damage.

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:27:45 UTC

Addressing the problem

83530 — 2025-08-21 20:33:01 UTC

Texas addressed the 2021 freeze by passing legislation and requiring power companies to be winterized so this hopefully would not happen again. This also created stricter penalties for anyone who does not do this in the future. This also restructured the ERCOT grid operator. This all should lead to less problems in the future.

Video explaining how it happened and why it was so life changing.

83530 — 2025-08-22 19:21:43 UTC

Importance of the event.

83530 — 2025-08-22 20:08:20 UTC

The average temperature of the state of Texas is 68.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures dropped to as low as -2 Fahrenheit in places like Dallas and Fort Worth. In other places like College Station and Houston, the temperatures varied between 0-15 degrees Fahrenheit. Most people that live in environments with warm temperatures, are not typically ready for extreme weather situations like this. If the people would of been more prepared, the results could of ended very differently. This also effected the natural environment. The plants of Texas known as ",drought-tolerant native plants like Lantana, Texas Sage, and Autumn Sage, as well as popular choices for heat tolerance such as cacti, agave, Black-eyed Susan, and Gulf Coast Muhly, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis)" are plants that are known for living in dry hot conditions. In cold ones, you can imagine what would happen to these plants and the animals in the surrounding area.

The shift in views.

83530 — 2025-08-22 20:23:50 UTC

After going through a situation like this, everyone's views changed. People finally realized they needed to put more effect into power systems so they are ready for every situation. It also helped communities grow as they all helped each other in times of need. Though lots of plants and animals struggles sine then they have bounced back and increased by 2.6 percent.

Solving the problem.

83530 — 2025-08-24 17:55:57 UTC

From a Ecocentric view point, a way we could solve this problem is by learning from what happened. They could spend there money and by local to help with climate change along with maybe walking or biking to work instead of driving to also help climate change.

From a Anthrocentric view point, they could create policies to prevent harm to people in the future. They also would support environmental actions is overall it benefited humans. They also value nature only when it’s useful to humans like for food, energy, or comfort. Humans are seen as more important than other life forms, and the environment is mainly protected to benefit people.

From a Technocentric view point, the only thing that needs to be changed is the power grid systems. If we can update them and winterize them then all problems should be solved by using technology.

Fun facts!

83530 — 2025-08-24 18:03:58 UTC

-For people who say ",This was not that bad," you are wrong. This was terrible! This cold front took over the entire state of Texas, and reached into other surrounding states. Not to mention it even hit some of the Northern parts of Mexico.

-The disaster was fueled by a Negative Arctic Oscillation and disruptions to the polar vortex.

-Many parts of Texas hit record amount of day being in a consecutive freeze. Cities as big as Austin saw 7 days in a row of freezing temperatures.

-4.5 MILLION houses and companies lost power during this time.

-Texas runs its own power grid system, where as other states, including Colorado, share power grids with surrounding states.

-At one point, the ERCOT was just 4 minutes and 37 seconds away from total grid collapse, which means they would've had to rebuild the whole system again in order for it to function properly.

Relations

83530 — 2025-08-24 18:11:57 UTC

-ENERGY-Long term deregulation, grid isolation, and climate related stress.

-WATER-infrastructure neglect, underinvestment in resilient water systems.

-HOUSING-Winterization gaps, unsafe housing.

-POLITICS-Accountability crisis, federal-state tension.

-PUBLIC HEALTH-Hospital outages, carbon monoxide deaths.

-CLIMATE CHANGE- Polar Vortex+ Artic warming= More extreme weather

Now we must do our part.

83530 — 2025-08-24 18:13:44 UTC

Relations with climate change.

83530 — 2025-08-28 20:05:18 UTC

One other example of a serious thing that climate change caused recently is, "Maui wildfires of 2023, a series of wildfires that burned parts of the island of Maui in the U.S. state of Hawaii in August 2023. The fires, which began on August 8, struck hardest the historic resort town of Lahaina, on Maui’s western peninsula, reducing most of the town to ash and ruins. 102 people were killed in Lahaina by the smoke and flames or by drowning, making the wildfire one of the world’s deadliest on record. Almost 3,000 structures were reported to have been either damaged or destroyed by the fire. In addition to the fires on Maui, a series of less devastating wildfires burned parts of the island of Hawaii starting on August 9.(The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by John P. Rafferty.)" When powerlines fell due to a wind storm, the land and ennviroment was so dry that it started the fire. That was not the only fire that had happened recently in Hawaii, the others just were able to be contained. This example relates to the fact that climate change harms us in many different ways. Weather a severe winter storm or dry seasons being extended a extra month, these are all outputs of climate change. These are both tragedies that put humans and the environment in danger.

Another example is how severe hurricanes have been becoming. Climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous by increasing their intensity, rainfall, and potential for damage. Warmer ocean temperatures give hurricanes more energy, making them stronger, while a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to heavier rain and greater flooding. Overall, climate change is amplifying the impact of hurricanes, especially in coastal areas. A example is the damage of hurricane Katrina, it destroyed towns, and killed many people. It was truly terrible and another cause of climate change.