Important to do this. In Santa Barbara, after our catastrophic fire in 2017 followed by a worse mudslide in early 2018, a local man started the Bucket Brigade, volunteers dug out houses filled with mud. That group has now started another team of "second responders:" volunteers who will help first responders in search, rescue and recovery. When I asked a local minister what she learned from these events, she replied, "To give the fire marshell keys to my church."
Nora, thanks for sharing your experience and what the people of Santa Barbara are doing for their community. Do you know what the community is doing about sea level rise? It would be great to hear from other individuals and communities to find out what they are doing, too.
The city has published a number of reports regarding sea level rise and I've looked at the maps of potential flooding. But, I have no knowledge of how the city plans to actually deal with the situation. I read several years ago that someone asked the mayor of Rotterdam how the city prepared for sea level rise and/or a breach in the dikes. He replied, "We train our children to swim twice: once in their swimsuits and the second time in their clothes." This is practical and faces the situation head on. In the U.S., it appears we don't prepare for disaster because we don't want to believe it will happen.
It seems we've always been employing a strategy of climate resilience. It's just that now the climate is changing faster and both predictable and unpredictable ways.
Arjun, yes, throughout human history we have adapted to changing climates. After all, our ancestors survived the last Ice Age. What we have now is a supercharged change to the climate, with CO2 levels that have been this high in millions of year. It's going to take A LOT of effort and $$$ to build the resiliency that we need.
Important to do this. In Santa Barbara, after our catastrophic fire in 2017 followed by a worse mudslide in early 2018, a local man started the Bucket Brigade, volunteers dug out houses filled with mud. That group has now started another team of "second responders:" volunteers who will help first responders in search, rescue and recovery. When I asked a local minister what she learned from these events, she replied, "To give the fire marshell keys to my church."
Nora, thanks for sharing your experience and what the people of Santa Barbara are doing for their community. Do you know what the community is doing about sea level rise? It would be great to hear from other individuals and communities to find out what they are doing, too.
The city has published a number of reports regarding sea level rise and I've looked at the maps of potential flooding. But, I have no knowledge of how the city plans to actually deal with the situation. I read several years ago that someone asked the mayor of Rotterdam how the city prepared for sea level rise and/or a breach in the dikes. He replied, "We train our children to swim twice: once in their swimsuits and the second time in their clothes." This is practical and faces the situation head on. In the U.S., it appears we don't prepare for disaster because we don't want to believe it will happen.
It seems we've always been employing a strategy of climate resilience. It's just that now the climate is changing faster and both predictable and unpredictable ways.
Arjun, yes, throughout human history we have adapted to changing climates. After all, our ancestors survived the last Ice Age. What we have now is a supercharged change to the climate, with CO2 levels that have been this high in millions of year. It's going to take A LOT of effort and $$$ to build the resiliency that we need.
I don't disagree. To be clear.
Great to see you review Rob's book. Doing a webcast on my #sustainwhat webcast with him and a great Louisiana coast photographer, Virginia Hanusik today at 1pm ET - watchable live or later here: https://www.earth.columbia.edu/videos/view/a-lawyer-and-a-photographer-explore-climate-resilience-and-its-absence
Thanks for posting this, Andy. This is a really great discussion.