We are woefully underprepared for the climate reckoning that is coming (and already here).
adapting to the floods
3/14/24
Each day we fail to take meaningful collective climate action, we only create a far worse more challenging, inequitable, disruptive future — that in turn gets here increasingly soon(er). It is indeed a vicious cycle.
Climate Change + Humans = A Cruel Problem
Photo by Jonathan Ford on Unsplash
It’s a cruel problem, it really is, that climate change. We as humans grow up aware of our own consciousness, aware not only of the global problem but also aware that we are in fact the cause of said problem.
Whoever smelt it dealt it really does apply here.
Pick whatever angle you want — denial, grief, anger, ignorance — we’ve used it all. But nature doesn’t care, the earth beats to a different drum. One of natural principles. Not one of human desires and needs, despite what we tell ourselves.
We have the science, we have the technology, we know we’ve caused it and we can argue about what the outcome may be, how severe it is, when it will be here, what the “end” of times mean but the reality is we just need to do the work necessary. All of us. And together. And quickly.
And we have heard this time and time again, we know the problem, we have the solutions, yet we seem to be unable as a species, as a country, as any real conglomerate of people to make the meaningful, necessary, rapid change. Heck, you can even make a lot of money in climate change at this point!! (DM me on the side for more on that topic…)
Why is this? Why can’t we still make any meaningful action on climate change?
I think this is the case for 3 main reasons:
We like villains
We have been taught life is short
And we are just fundamentally selfish creatures. Fighting climate change goes against our animalistic, survivalist tendencies.
Villians. Oh boy, isn’t it much easier to blame someone else, something else, than take any sort of responsibility? As a species we have done this time and time again. And a fear is rising that in response or perhaps in exchange of taking any meaningful action, we continue to villainize politicans, oil companies, the systems.
I’ve argued this in past articles, but it’s important to remember that WE ARE THE SYSTEM. Humans are the politicians, humans are the individuals who make up the oil companies, we are the capitalistic consumers. We have to realize we are actually the villain and we are at very best, an accomplice. Often the scariest villain is one you cannot see, and beyond that, the scariest villain might just be the one looking back at you in the mirror…
We’ve been taught life is so short. We must savor the moment, have fun, be present, put the devices down and live for the moment, because this life is in fact all we have. While of course this is true, we also know we live in an interconnected web, an interconnected ecosystem of life on a finite planet.
And boy, just how far removed so many of us have become from this. It is easy to think our cars and our houses and our stock markets are somehow removed from nature, natural systems, and natural capital…
I love the age old adage: try holding your breath while you count your money. A nice reminder that no matter how much money you have, clean air, clean water, food, shelter, are still, you know, kind of important…
Our selfish nature. We have human survival instincts. Built into our DNA. Many of us fight these daily, both consciously and unconsciously. Fight or flight. Adrenaline. Eyesight. Ears. You name it.
We are hard wired to have a physical, mental, emotional response to short term emergencies. While walking on a street, have a car dart out too close to you and you see how your body responds instinctively.
But where things get complicated is when the issue starts to become too big, too vague, not in our face enough to force our flight or fight response into action. This is climate change, for many around the world.
Mainly STILL really don’t feel the effects in their daily lives (for sure many in the west) and so we can still try to ignore it. Place false hope that somehow things will magically get better. And ignore the interconnectedness of it.
Or the effects are slow, gradual, a gradual demise that rears its head from time to time but resides just enough for us to retreat back into our silos, back into a false reality.
A small but poignant example. I live in Texas. On Feburary 28th it was 90 degrees. Broke a 117 year old record (which that alone gets people all fucked up but most aren’t even paying attention so we can ignore that for now). Many causal conversations I saw or was privy too.
“It’s so nice out! Let’s meet at the park!”
A few were aware that, oh no. This isn’t good. If Its 90 in february what on earth is it going to be like in August? But a few days later the temperature cooled to a more normal, yet still higher than average level, and everyone went back into the loop of discontinuity where they live. We have lives to lead and money to be made$ An effect, but not enough to cause the disruption truly needed for change.
At what cost?
And so this brings up a point. My fear is that for many to make the meaningful, necessary change, they need climate change they can feel, can breathe in, can disrupt and cause them damage.
Just like with health issues and health scares. We know these cause major life transformations, life altering views, scary enough to make us short-term humans change forever.
But with climate, the reality is the point at which enough people will FEEL the effects of climate change to make life altering changes, it will be too late on a global scale. The damage will be too far gone and the damage irreversible.
Oh climate change, you fickle beast, you.
Just look at this chart about where we are on planetary boundaries.
“These reports, endorsed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, make the case that the combined effects of disasters, economic vulnerabilities, and overtaxing of ecosystems are creating “a dangerous tendency for the world to tend toward the Global Collapse scenario. This scenario presents a world where planetary boundaries have been extensively crossed, and if GCR events have not already occurred or are in the process of occurring, then their likelihood of doing so in the future is extreme … and total societal collapse is a possibility.”
We have crossed nearly 50% of planetary boundiers that put us at risk for global irreversible damage and one could argue MOST around the world are still not feeling the immediate, life altering affects of climate change.
So just how underprepared are we for what’s coming?
Just drive around America and I think you get a good glimpse.
Look at the mega houses being built, the new office parks, the new higher, dryer, more concrete infused overpasses and highways. I’m nearly 40 years old, lived in America most of my life, aside from a few stints abroad, and I cannot name one mass public transportation project that has come online, a new development, in my lifetime. Not one meaningful enough that I have ridden or taken as any major mode of transportation. Sure, a few light rails here and there but that’s about it. Its 2024…
We are adding more concrete, cutting down trees, building closer to water, have a dilapidated electrical grid, a wearing concrete infrastructure, and a worsening income inequality crises. Americans are moving into higher, at-risk states due to cost of living challenges.
Look, you can basically overlay the cities in the US with the highest climate risk with the fastest growing. That is a recipe for disaster.
Fastest Growing Cities in the US 2020–2025
Areas at most risk of unlivable heat conditions
A town in Maine spent half a million on a sand dune wall to prevent flooding and it was wiped away by the ocean in 3 days.
Cities aren’t investing enough in a disruptive future, our government isn’t investing enough, and our focus is still too short term, too profit driven.
We cut down trees to make room for more house, unaware that shade provides a natural cooling effect, and now these larger homes will need more energy, more cooling to keep tolerable in our Texas-sized heat waves.
What of any of that points to being anywhere close to what is coming in our short-term future?
The individualism, the capitalism, the consumerism, the every person out for themselves. Much has been written about the demise of the American community (look at our current political system as an indicator of that), but what we also seem to be failing to recognize is every day we punt climate change to someone else, ignore the science and reports, we are sabotaging our own future, and that of our kids.
This new reality isn’t just limited to the United States. Cities around the world are underprepared, underfunded, and not ready for the change that is already here.
And if you somehow believe you, or your family, or your money will somehow be spared from the effects of climate change, I suggest you think again.
Look at the covid pandemic for example. Boy, businesses supply chains were hit hard and quickly due to a dependance on China. Boy, those grocery store shelves became baren quickly. Our global health care systems pushed to breaking points. 25 million lives lost. And by most accounts, we got relatively LUCKY with covid.
So if you think you can continue to just focus on your own work, your own wealth accumulation, and your own family, I fear you truly just don’t understand how much of an interconnected world we now live in. We let globalization out of the box and its not something we will, nor should, try to put back into said box.
If people aren’t willing to make the necessary sacrifices to solve and adapt to climate change now, who on earth thinks more people will when they are even more hungry, forced to relocate, more financially stressed, hotter, and so on…
And now we have the pleasure of both mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
This is not me making the case for giving up hope. This is not me embracing doomerism.
But what it is, is the reality of the situation we now have presented ourselves with. Due to our failed efforts to really mitigate climate change in time, we now have to adapt to life on a changed (and still RAPIDLY changing) planet.
We must work tirelessly to mitigate the effects of climate change daily. This means reducing emissions, getting to global net zero, and phasing out fossil fuels all as fast as humanely possible (or heck, even faster). This means turning EVERY job, yes even yours, into a climate job.
We know this matters. We know every ounce of CO2, every tenth a degree matters.
And now we must also adapt to the here and now effects of climate change that our willing ignorance, selfishness, has caused. The rising sea levels, the increasing natural disasters, the displacement of people and animals, the food shortages, the flooding, the extreme heat. It is estimated that between 250 million to 1 billion people will be displaced due to climate change alone by 2050….
We have to invest in collective solutions, the movement of people, the weatherizing of grids and food supply chains, in the face of harsher conditions, more scaricity, increased vulnerabilities, resource depletion and so on.
It will not be easy. This is not an easy road.
But, if your house is on fire, it sure does make it that much harder to do the work of mitigating climate change…
Thanks for being here.
Z
