written 2 October 2022
published 9 October 2022
As I am writing this, hurricane Ian is making landfall in South Carolina as a category 1 storm, having recharged in the Atlantic after trashing Florida for two days. The videos of damage in Florida are distressing. While the death toll is still relatively low, it is expected to climb as searchers reach more of the destroyed areas. Millions of folks were without power, and it will take weeks to get it all restored. Rebuilding roads, bridges and other core infrastructure, will take longer, hindering a return to "normal". Damage estimates are now as high as $100B, but that is probably just for repairs. The total losses will be higher, when lost wages and business income are added in.
Ian hit as a category 4 storm, with eyewall winds of 155mph, just shy of the 157mph denoting a category 5. The storm surge was one of the largest on record, inundating relatively flat coastal areas. The rainfall totals were near record in amount and extent, covering almost the entire state, causing extensive flooding. The extreme size and power resulted from passing over some of the warmest waters on record, one of the manifestations of climate change. This was one of the ten largest hurricanes to ever hit the US, the fourth in just the last 5 years.
It is hard to think about all this. On the one hand, I feel for all the people affected, but I know that the Republican "leaders" of Florida have outlawed using the phrase "climate change", because they don't believe it is real. Miami is building expensive sea walls to deal with "persistent sunny day flooding", because "sea level rise" is another prohibited phrase.
Florida governor DeSantis has been in the news for pushing his extremist Republican agenda in a bid for the presidency in 2024, but now has to deal with a sudden intrusion of reality. When DeSantis was a Congressman, one of his first votes was to deny federal funding to survivors of hurricane Sandy, which hit blue states. Now, of course, he is very grateful to have federal aid for his state. This passes for integrity in the Republican party.
I am befuddled by the systemic denial I see in our culture. Conservatives are correct that dealing with the climate crisis demands a complete restructuring of how we do business, which will disrupt the status quo where some people are massively wealthy, while the majority struggles. I understand they want to preserve their privilege, but how can they deny the reality of a changing world?
Today I read an interview with Joanna Macy, describing work by Robert Jay Lifton, who coined the term "psychic numbing"; not wanting to look at distressing information. This led Macy to create what she calls "despair work", because reality doesn't go away if we don't look at it. It just keeps building until it literally blows down the walls.
The Trump presidency, and current Republican policy, bring long standing, unresolved issues to the light of day. Their crass embracing of misogyny, racism, and corruption encourages people holding those views to come out into the open for all to see. This is the illusion of separation, believing one race, sex, or economic class, is better than another. Killing the planet for profit, the core of the climate crisis, is more of the same illusion. Fortunately, the last two elections showed most Americans reject that perspective, and I expect further rejection this November.
While the climate crisis is an external challenge, it is symbolic of this deeper inner work; rising above the illusion of separation. Embracing reality demands courage and deep internal investigation. It means we have to look at our fears, not to become obsessed with them, but to hear their story. By acknowledging the abuses we have inflicted on our planet and others, we begin healing ourselves, opening to the fact that we are all interdependent.
Misogyny, racism, and corruption, are cultural and political creations, which can be ignored and preserved by violent domination, even if it distorts the entire society. The good news is the climate crisis is a conflict with reality, which can't be dominated into submission. Society has to evolve, and get into harmony with our climate, before everything is swept away. By learning to love the world, we will also learn to love each other. It's all connected.
