To Understand Climate Adaptation, don’t look up, look around.

adapting to the floods

6/1/24

There’s a lot of talk about climate adaptation these days. What is it and how do we actually apply it to our lives?

Photo by Bogdan Kupriets on Unsplash

Broadly speaking, the climate movement is being distilled into two categories: climate mitigation and climate adaptation.

Mitigation refers to lowering, reducing, ending our destructive ways on the planet. Much of this you have probably seen and encountered: companies and individuals calculating their carbon footprint in hopes of reducing it to zero. All of us individuals and all companies can and should try to reach a point where what we consume is equal to what we put back. At its simplest, if I ate 5 apples, I should grow 5 apples to create ecological balance. If I ate 5 apples and grew 10, ok I am putting back more than I took! Yet, clearly we as a species consume WAY more than we put back, to the tune of 1.5 earths worth or even more…

Practically speaking, as of 2024, companies work to reach net zero or become even carbon positive (putting back even more in terms of energy than you take) by implementing sustainable practices, using less raw material, implementing new practices and technologies, purchasing carbon offsets on the voluntary and mandatory markets, and now, purchasing DAC (direct air capture) credits which pays for companies to literally suck carbon out of the air and sequester it underground, into the ocean, into concrete, into rock etc.

On the mitigation front, this is where most of the time, energy, and resources have been going over the past two decades. I’m sure you either personally or professionally have engaged in a bit or quite a lot of this work.

Climate adaptation often refers to building the resiliency, solutions, infrastructure, governmental services, supportive services, etc to respond to life on a changed planet both in the short term and the future. It’s part disaster preparedness, disaster responsiveness, but also future proofing as best one can for the coming climate disruptions a local city, state, or country will be most subjected to.

If your city is prone to flooding, what is your city or what are the private companies doing now to reduce the impacts of flooding, build appropriately, understand the risks, now, and for the future when the flooding is anticipated to get much worse?

And as we know, the latest climate science and reports is harrowing. We are blowing past 1.5 degrees predicted warming (which remember, was the level we were warned to stay UNDER), and could be heading to 2 degrees warming or beyond.

That is not good. At 2 degrees and beyond, life on our planet looks quite different. And not in a ‘oh that’s cute we will just turn the AC down’ kind of way. People are living in different places and have been forced to move. It is estimated that by 2050, nearly 1 Billion (with a B) people will be forced from their current locations due to climate change. Increased flooding, increased rainfall, increased disasters, a hotter, much more hostile planet and people.

Within climate adaptation, it often causes us to look “up”. What’s the weather doing? Is it going to rain, and if so, how much? Is it going to storm, if so where? My house? My neighboring town? Is that Canadian wildfire smoke I see in the sky?

So much of how we interpret climate change is and pertains to the weather. But this is only a piece of the puzzle.

Yes, weather affects us dramatically — everything from where we live, and how we live, and our lifestyles. But it is important to remember the weather is a result of climate change, the weather is not climate change.

It’s Time to Start Looking Around

Instead, we all need to start looking around — and quickly.

This means looking at what your local government, state government, neighbors, contractors, developers, federal government is (or most likely is not) doing.

Does your city have a climate action plan? Does your city or state have a climate adaptation plan?

What are the biggest risks to your city, your state, your country? Looking around not just at your city but also to nearby cities, coastal cities, your countries largest or biggest contributor to economic vitality, your neighboring countries (see: refugees)

For example, if I were living in Orlando, FL, you bet your bottom I’d be concerned about what was happening (or more like NOT happening) in Miami — because there are domino effects to a community, to state or federal funding, businesses leaving the area, and so forth. See here.

Particularly in the US, some of the most vulnerable cities are absolute concrete jungles. “About 80% of the U.S. population lives in cities, where the urban heat island effect can worsen heat extremes,” according to Climate Central’s Urban Heat Island findings.

And this is why what your neighbors are (or are not doing) really matters. If commercial real estate developers, or architectural firms, continue to prioritize profit and concrete over sustainability and watersheds, it will only weaken your city’s ability to handle what comes next… unfortunately that is a very real reality the city of Houston (among others) is currently facing…

But there is a harsh reality unfolding when it comes to cities ability or interest in preparing for instability & risk caused by climate change: denial.

Take the city of Miami (again, sorry to pick on it but I mean, c’mon…).

The best thing the city and the state could actually do is to encourage folks to move away from coast lines, help them reestablish buildings, communities, towns, further inland, and in some instances, even help people leave the state.

But of course this will never happen. Due to economic incentivies, money, and deep pockets, the city or the state will never tell you to leave, even if that is in your best interest… (https://www.vox.com/climate/23872640/coastal-climate-ocean-rising-miami-florida-building)

Which at a fundamental level, reminds you that there will inevitably be quite a few organizations, politicians, leaders, etc trying to sell you an oar as the ship sinks…

So one of the most pressing questions we can ask ourselves as it pertains to climate adaptation, as we take a long, deep look around at our own communities is, “where am I, or my city, in the greatest denial?”

And we start there.

---

Read original article on Medium:
https://medium.com/@zachweismann/to-understand-climate-adaptation-dont-look-up-look-around-9e9a98428e5c

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:

1. We like villains

2. We have been taught life is short

3. 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

---

Read original article on Medium:
https://medium.com/the-climate-climb/we-are-woefully-underprepared-for-the-climate-reckoning-that-is-coming-and-already-here-cd2b2c9f2bc7