written 10 September 2023
published 17 September 2023
Last week, Atlantic hurricane Lee doubled in intensity, from category 1 to category 5, in 18 hours. Lake Titicaca in the Andes, the world's highest navigable lake, is drying out. France hits 104°F, India had the driest August in more than 100 years, 60 million Americans were under heat alerts, Phoenix broke an annual record of 53 days with temperatures over 110°F, and snow was on the ground in Utah mountains. Intense storms flooded southern Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Istanbul (5 inches of rain in one hour), central Spain (7 inches of rain), southeast Taiwan (11 inches of rain), and central Greece (21 inches of rain in 10 hours), while northeastern Greece still burns.
Think about that last item for a moment. Imagine the impact of 21 inches of rain in half a day on your home, or your community.
A disaster like this not only devastates individual lives, but entire communities, ecosystems, and major infrastructures are damaged or destroyed as well. Search and rescue efforts take time and resources, before the cleanup and disposal of debris can even begin, let alone actual rebuilding. All this has to happen with no functioning local or regional economy, perhaps no electricity, communications, water, sewage disposal, food and material supply, or even road access. Emergency services, like hospitals, police, and fire services, that weren't damaged, are overloaded, and their personnel might be homeless. These local impacts strain the larger society, demanding money and resources in order to recover.
Even if the resources are available, recovery can take years to get back to where things were before the disaster. After hurricane Sandy hit New York, some systems took a decade to return. Five years after their fire, Paradise, California, has about 1/3 its former population. After hurricane Idalia blew through Florida, over 1000 bridges needed assessment. Flooding cuts into agricultural production and drives insurance rates higher. Each of these extensive climate events affects the larger economy, adding unexpected costs.
This summer was the hottest on record, a mark that will not stand long. The information is clear and climate impact defines the daily news feed, yet we still dig the hole deeper, making matters worse. Atmospheric carbon dioxide content increased 2.5ppm this year.
Some aren't even willing to try keeping up with disaster response. FEMA funds have been depleted by flooding in the east and northeast and wildfires like Maui, and need to be replenished to deal with Florida's hurricane recovery. The economic power of the collective society is needed, but Republican leadership has decided the climate crisis is a liberal hoax, and are standing in the way of even helping their Republican voters in Florida.
In a recent TED talk, Al Gore described the main boulder in the stream hindering effective human response to the climate crisis: the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuels, a multi trillion dollar industry, have been a powerful engine for the growth of human civilization, with an externalized cost that is now killing that same civilization. Those few who control, and massively benefit from, the industry, have no incentive to make any changes, because they are embedded in the idea of "profit over people": their profit versus other people's lives. They have known about the problem for decades, but don't care, believing only "other people" will be affected. Addiction to money is a global problem, and the fossil fuel industry applies its power for its own ends, stalling any effective climate response.
Despite whatever "greenwashing" you hear, last year fossil fuel companies put just 1 percent of spending into green alternatives, and 40 percent into stock buybacks for investors, while funding climate denial and disinformation. In the Glasgow COP22, fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered the combined representatives of the ten most affected countries.
The climate crisis is only a symptom of a deeper problem: the illusion of separation. This illusion is also the root of racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, economic inequity, and rabid nationalism. All of these problems are centuries old, and have caused lifetimes of suffering. But the climate crisis is more recent, and will sweep everything in its path, because despite the entrenched illusion, we are all in this together, and any effective climate solution requires helping everyone. Republicans obviously have no plan, or intention, to match this challenge, preferring denial and traditional divisiveness to unity. This next election will tell the tale. Are human's wise enough to survive much longer?
