On a tiny Caribbean island, hundreds of people are preparing to pack up and move to escape the rising waters threatening to engulf their already precarious homes.
The problem isn’t land, it’s not even the ability to build infrastructure to support displacement, it’s the will. Many millions of people would rather others come to harm than change a single thing about their environment or habits. Europe has the space and means to allow 500 million to immigrate, but they freak out about a fraction of that coming over under the most heart-, back- and breath-taking conditions. Instead of voting for everything and anything to be done to make a good life possible for refugees and locals alike, they will vote for parties that suggest those less fortunate be shot at the border. And that for even daring to escape their misfortune.
The only thing I’m happy about is that Europeans are starting to experience the inconveniences of climate change. Those minor inconveniences of “oh it’s quite hot this summer”, “darn, I may not water my garden with drinkable water”, or even losing an insured house due to a storm, are forcing some to face the music. We in the west may huff and puff at the big, unstoppable, rolling ball of climate change that is coming towards us, but ultimately, we will have to adapt. No amount of conspiracy theories like “the government is burning down our houses to make smart cities” will protect the feeble-minded from what’s coming.
I love that we will have to deal with consequences of our actions. The only way most people change is through crisis, and boy do we have a crisis heading for us.
You put that very nicely and I will agree with you! I tend to be optimistic about people being nice to others, but I think I’m the odd one out in that regard. At least in the general population
The problem isn’t land, it’s not even the ability to build infrastructure to support displacement, it’s the will. Many millions of people would rather others come to harm than change a single thing about their environment or habits. Europe has the space and means to allow 500 million to immigrate, but they freak out about a fraction of that coming over under the most heart-, back- and breath-taking conditions. Instead of voting for everything and anything to be done to make a good life possible for refugees and locals alike, they will vote for parties that suggest those less fortunate be shot at the border. And that for even daring to escape their misfortune.
The only thing I’m happy about is that Europeans are starting to experience the inconveniences of climate change. Those minor inconveniences of “oh it’s quite hot this summer”, “darn, I may not water my garden with drinkable water”, or even losing an insured house due to a storm, are forcing some to face the music. We in the west may huff and puff at the big, unstoppable, rolling ball of climate change that is coming towards us, but ultimately, we will have to adapt. No amount of conspiracy theories like “the government is burning down our houses to make smart cities” will protect the feeble-minded from what’s coming.
I love that we will have to deal with consequences of our actions. The only way most people change is through crisis, and boy do we have a crisis heading for us.
You put that very nicely and I will agree with you! I tend to be optimistic about people being nice to others, but I think I’m the odd one out in that regard. At least in the general population