I am seeing more and more reporting on the extraordinary measures being taken to protect communities, buildings and infrastructure from the impacts of climate change. Here are a few examples:
· The U.S. federal government is now putting disaster assistance funds into Louisiana’s effort to keep salt water from moving up the Mississippi river and contaminating drinking water supplies.
· Florida has been toughening up building codes and requiring “Hurricane-Proofing”.
· Uber wealthy are building coastal mansions on raised platforms in an effort to escape being affected by sea level rise.
· Miami-Dade County just passed a law requiring property lots, roads and canal banks be built at least six-feet up due to risk of storm surge from intensified storms and rising sea level.
· A lot of research is going into making buildings hardened against wildfire.
On the surface all these measures seem to make sense, but on a deeper level they are wildly expensive reactions rather than solutions. All are an attempt to keep doing what we’ve been doing, building where we’ve been building, increasing population in areas that are not suited for it, etc. The same can be said for pumping a ton of money, mining and energy-consumption into transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables without even considering that the overall rate of consumption of just about everything has to come down.
Many of the measures to protect against climate-related impacts are actually adding fuel to the climate fire. Several years ago, I was at a conference at the Ritz Carlton in Naples Florida. My life partner was a keynote speaker for a health care organization that held their events in super posh venues and I got to tag along. I’d never seen anything like that level of wealth. True to reputation, the hotel staff were incredible about catering to everything the guests could possibly ask. My favorite part of it was the “Club Floor”, which was a semi-private penthouse lounge that served delicious small-plate delicacies, French champagne, other drinks, espresso, and more, round the clock at no expense to those “special” guests who were super wealthy or there with organizations that had wealth. At one point I told the very elegant woman who managed the place that I could live in a small trailer the rest of my life if it were attached to her Club Floor.*
A couple days later, the enamor wore off. I was on the balcony of my room overlooking the ocean and white sand beach beyond the pool and posh hotel grounds. Rows of signature blue-upholstered Ritz chaise lounges and umbrellas were set up on the beach and attendants carried fresh towels and drinks to sun-bathing guests.
Suddenly a huge dump truck on massive tires rolled in and roared down the beach between the sunbathers and the ocean. Then another. Then another. They were filled with sand and disappeared around the bend past the other hotels stacked on the beach. This went on all day long each day I was there and I finally asked the Club Floor lady what was going on.
Turned out, this is a common, repeated activity as they haul in sand to rebuild the beach that is constantly eroding due to a jetty that was built so that hotels could be sited closer to the water. The jetty blocks the ocean currents that normally would continuously rebuilt the beach. And, so, they run massive, diesel fume belching dump trucks up and down the sand beach carrying sand from inland. The wealthy sunbathers on the posh blue lounge chairs didn’t even seem to register the fleet of massive roaring trucks going back and forth. The insanity of it all. I didn’t feel good being there anymore and I haven’t been back.
It also turns out this practice of trucking sand in to a sand beach that is being destroyed due to artificial infrastructure and building right to the water’s edge happens in wealthy tourist-driven locations all over the place.
“R and R” usually refers to “Rest and Relaxation” but what we really need now, at scale, is “Respect and Restoration”.
The Mississippi River wouldn’t be facing saltwater encroachment if the river hadn’t been dammed (which prevents sediment from rebuilding the lower stretches) and estuaries and wetlands hadn’t been destroyed by construction, offshore oil extraction, and oil spills. Florida’s coastal communities would have better protection from hurricanes if coastal wetlands, forests, and mangroves hadn’t been wiped out by human sprawl. We wouldn’t be facing the intensity of wildfires across the world if we’d heeded the early scientific warnings about the damage being done by our fossil fuel addiction and hadn’t built communities in naturally-occurring wildfire zones.
The best solution to “natural” disasters is nature.** Rebuilding wetlands, and coastal mangroves, removing some dams and jetties, restoring oyster beds, barrier islets and sand dunes, all are more effective protections than raised platforms and walls. Some of these restorative measures are now known as “Green Infrastructure”, which will need to be a robust sector in the saner economy of the future.
Another trend of the future will have to be moving and sometimes relocating human communities and buildings out of some natural areas. Setting an inspiring example, the Norwegian government has completed the largest re-wilding project in its history by cleaning and restoring a massive coal mining site on the Arctic Island of Svalbard. Polar bears, reindeer, Arctic fox, and sea birds are now moving back into the former industrial town, nestled in a remote fjord, which before its closure had its own power station, wharf, water supply, and everything else that was necessary to house up to 300 workers and run the mining operations on a large scale. All traces of human activity since mining began in 1910 are being removed, with the exception of cultural monuments and historic buildings.
Personally, I’d rather do a little restin’ and relaxin’ on an island with reindeer and foxes than in a posh beach chair surrounded by roaring belching behemoth dump trucks.
In 2022 damages from weather-related disasters in the U.S. alone topped $165 billion. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates total recorded weather-related damage costs in the U.S. now tops $2.475 trillion. We are not going to be able to technology our way through or buy our way out of the mess we’ve created. Respecting nature’s laws, reducing consumption of everything from energy to animals, and stepping up to restoration at scale are essential strategies.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Cylvia
Notes:
*I did, in fact, live in a small travel trailer for four years and I loved it.
**I put “natural” in quotations because much of the intensification of weather-related disasters has a human-cause factor.
Upcoming Spiritual Education and Enrichment Classes
This Fall I’ll be teaching several Spiritual Education and Enrichment classes. All are online and all of you are welcome to join. Details are as follows.
Metaphysics 1
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality. This includes the first principles of: being or existence, identity, change, space and time, cause and effect and possibility. It is a type of philosophy or study that generally seeks to explain inherent or universal elements of reality which are not easily understood or experienced in our everyday life.
The first phase for becoming a “metaphysician-practitioner” is learning fundamental Principles. Assimilating and practicing those Principles helps us awaken awareness and understand of spiritual Truth. This “first phase” course encourages students to enter into that awakening and understanding so that they can apply the principles in everyday life and experience the benefits of spiritual understanding.
When: Oct. 16, Oct. 17, Oct. 18, Oct. 19, and Oct. 23, 2023, 10am to 11:30am Pacific Time.
Where: ONLINE via Zoom.
Cost: $75 – Register here.
This class will draw on the book, Heart-Centered Metaphysics, by Paul Hasselbeck.
As an FYI, I was one of the first four people to earn the Advanced Metaphysics certification from Unity Urban Ministerial School.Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Metaphysics 2
This course explores some of the more complex metaphysical concepts such as Oneness and creation, as well as offers a Unity perspective on terminology that is commonly used by much of mainstream Christianity. This is a great opportunity to rethink some of the mainstream, dualistic approaches to Christian concepts. In the process, aspects of students’ embedded theology are exposed, and Unity Teachings are clarified. Practical application is the primary goal.
Metaphysics 1 is strongly recommended but not required.
When: Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 20, Nov. 27, Dec. 4, Dec. 11, 2023. 4pm to 5:30pm Pacific time.
Where: Online via Zoom.
Cost: $75 – Register here.
New Thought Ancient Wisdom – A History of New Thought and Unity
The History of New Thought & Unity explores the origin and development of the ideas, beliefs and practices that characterize the New Thought movement. Particular attention is placed on the history and development of Unity. We’ll study the revolutionary teachings and philosophy of key thinkers like Emma Curtis Hopkins, Eric Butterworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Myrtle and Charles Fillmore and many others.
When: Oct. 30, Oct. 31, Nov.1, Nov. 2, Nov.6, 2023, 10am — 11:30am Pacific Time.
Where: Online via ZOOM
Cost: $75 – Register here.