Climate Change As Catalyst for the Great Unraveling

It has been a while since I’ve really discussed “the Slide” down away from the highly organized civilization we’re used to into… whatever lies on the other side of that process.

These last few weeks, with the crazy rainfall and floods of Hurricane Harvey, the windblown devastation of Puerto Rico and other islands, and the worst fire season on record for the west– which continues unabated in California… well, I can’t help but think about it.

I think what is most shocking is how quickly it’s begun happening. Another poster talked about how at this point, almost everyone knows someone touched by one of these climate-related tragedies. It is heart-breaking, and frightening, to think about– and yet how can we fail to notice?

I can imagine all too easily a future in which this kind of thing is not a freak weather year, but routine. If that becomes the new normal, insurance companies will fall, people will be moving constantly away from disaster zones, and the stability necessary for civilization to flourish will disappear.

“The Great Unraveling” will be underway at that point and finding safe and secure places to live, work, raise a family, or retire will become increasingly difficult. Already there are signs of the normal, official “rescue” resources failing at their duties. Yet I’m heartened by the many examples of private citizens who stepped in to fill the gaps. Truly harsh times bring out the heroes.

One beautiful region of the Columbia River Gorge that I hiked in and have many memories of going back to my early childhood was burned to ashes and cinders last summer, and theory became ugly reality. Losing a place you love to disaster, even if you know time will heal all things eventually, is soul-crushing on this deep level. Seeing “home” and “memory places” you feel connected to get destroyed causes this deep mourning that is difficult to convey if you’ve never been through it. I have yet to lose someone I love or a home to disaster– but the taste of death I’ve had made it’s point.

Nothing can prepare you for it. Not really. Being adaptable and sharp and acting swiftly when a crisis hits is crucial to survival, but loss will never not hurt. No matter how numb we may fear we are, loss reminds us we’re truly alive. Because this shit brings pain on a new level that by-passes what we think pain is supposed to be.

There’s not a lot I can do for the people who lived through or are still facing all these recent disasters. But I do empathize with them. I wish I had more money or vigor to find some way to assist, though, because my sympathy doesn’t seem like enough.