TICK TOCK THE CLIMATE CLOCK – PART FORTY: THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN

I think I can now safely say it, “The shit has hit the fan.”

Extreme heat is not the only weather that kills.  Extreme flooding is also a killer, as we have seen this past week.  I have no words to describe the recent devastation wrought by raging floodwaters in western Europe and central China, and I will let the photos and video scream for themselves. 

These photos are courtesy of USA Today and were taken in Germany, Holland, and Belgium.  As of three days ago, more than 180 people were counted as dead from the flooding. Estimates of the physical damage are being calculated.  The loss of life cannot be compensated. Answers as to how this could have happened in affluent First World countries are being demanded.  It’s an election year in Germany, and fingers are being pointed.

These photos below are from The New York Times, The Guardian, and a Chinese news service.  They were taken yesterday in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China.  The rain was the heaviest on record in the city.  At least eight inches fell in in one hour.  In Henan Province, more rain fell yesterday than normally does in an entire year.  China is calling it the heaviest downpour in 1,000 years.  More rain is expected, as Typhoons Chempaka and In-Fa threaten off the Chinese coast. As of this morning, at least 25 people, including 12 passengers in a subway car (see video below), were counted among the dead.   Certainly, there will be more fatalities.  As is its habit, the authoritarian Xi government is emphasizing the rescue efforts, rather than the causes of the flooding--in part, human-caused climate change.

These floods fall into the category of a Noah’s Ark event, but unlike Noah, we didn’t prepare.  Much as fire insurers in California have done, flood insurers in Germany have begun to take notice. When the chief climate scientist at Munich Re says this kind of extreme flooding is related to climate change, we may finally be getting somewhere.

But where is that, exactly?  While the heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Central Rockies, the wildfires in Oregon, the epic droughts in California and Australia, and the flooding in Europe and China are a screaming wake up call, that howl clearly comes too late to stop climate change.  We waited too long and now the shit has hit the fan.  All we can do is adapt. 

What will that take?  Adaptation won’t happen overnight.  It will require technological solutions at global scale, which will require extensive innovation and massive investment, which ultimately require political will and global cooperation.  It’s a race against time, and one we must not lose.

Losing money, as is happening now, may not be enough of an incentive to change course.  In my opinion, we can win this race to adapt only when the people making money from the way things are realize they can make at least as much money from the way things need to be. When that light dawns, political will magically will be revealed, money will flow, and we’ll leave the starting gate.  Until that happens, things are likely to get worse before they stabilize at a new, more unpleasant normal.  But things will change.  They have to.

Keep it real! And wear your damn mask indoors, even if you’re fully vaccinated.

Marilyn