Climate Optimism: Week of July 22, 2019
It was very hot this week.
Here’s the science: this past weekend, a heat wave struck the eastern United States with the force of a thousand suns. Forecasters had warned us to prepare for the fires of Mt. Doom coming in on Friday and sticking around (no humidity pun intended here) to ruin our weekend.
But all jokes aside, it was so hot that newspapers ran the obligatory stories about frying eggs on sidewalks. (These articles will continue for decades but in 2045, Bon Appetit will run this story in their issue on “exciting new recipes for the now-undeniable climate apocalypse we’re living in” and usher in a new wave of tips for the bourgeoisie to avoid the hard truth of planetary extinction.)
Ok now I’m serious. No more jokes.
This weekend was very hot. And while we talk about it now, we won’t be talking about 100 ºF heat and ravaging humidity all that often in a few years. Not because it won’t be happening anymore — because it will be normal.
Our brains have this lovely ability to shift our perceptions of “normal.” This leads to what we call the “shifting baselines syndrome.” We forget what used to be normal, even if what we’re now accustomed to is far from normal.
But while our brains are arguably too fast in catching up with climate change, our bodies aren’t. Our anatomy won’t be able to adapt quick enough to live in hotter and hotter temperatures. Neither will most species, including species we eat like corn, wheat, and avocados. (Cue gasp from the neoliberal bourgeoisie.) If you were sweaty and miserable this past weekend, you’ll be sweaty and miserable more often in the future. You won’t get used to it. You’ll just not realize how much hell you’re in, all the time.
Fun.
So we need a plan. Because more warming is now inevitable. We’re going to be hot, people are going to get sick more often from the heat, our food supply will be more insecure and our infrastructure will break. People (and wildlife) living in some places will get so hot, they’ll search for new places to live.
And we better provide it to them. It is our obligation, no matter who you are, to support refugees of the climate crisis. That means supporting refugees walking northwards right now in North America, as the climate has exacerbated issues in Central America. That means supporting refugees from war in Syria, since the climate crisis is theorized as one of the drivers of the Syrian civil war.
This is our shared planet. It’s a lovely planet. Make sure everyone has space to enjoy it.
And don’t get used this new normal.
The quote of the week:
Lawns are nature purged of sex or death. No wonder Americans like them so much. — Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education
