Can We Meet the Challenges of Climate Change?

This week started the latest gathering of 197 nations to address the challenge of a changing climate. The Conference of the Parties, abbreviated as COP 26 for its 26th meeting, is meeting in Glasgow, Scotland with the purpose of addressing the escalating temperatures that have had humanity witnessing a cascade of climate related disasters.

According to the Ecological Threat Register published by the non-partisan Institute for Economics and Peace, the economic costs of natural disasters has risen from an average of $50 billion per year in the 1980’s to an average of $200 billion in the past decade. Displacements due to such disasters affected 25 million people just in 2019, compared to 8.6 million due to armed conflict. There is good reason for the world’s nations to seek to ameliorate climate drivers, and here in the Hill Country we should hope they do.

Flooding has been the most common natural disaster since 1990. From 1990 to 2019, a total of 9,924 natural disasters occurred globally, of which 42 per cent were floods. The next largest category - storm events, which include cyclones, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards and dust storms, made up 30 per cent of the total. As residents of a flash flood prone area, we are aware of the power of floods and the damages they can cause.

We regularly see the climate challenges in our nation and currently lead the world with 704 natural disasters since 1990. Although we live in a more resilient economy and have greater capability than most to address disaster impacts, it is safe to say that any drivers of natural disasters are worth minimizing.

However, it is important to realize we are a beacon of safety and opportunity for up to 1 billion people in the world that are living in what are called ecological hotspots. An ecological hotspot combines high levels of ecological threats with low and stagnant socio-economic resilience. Such hotspots are a source of many seeking refuge.

In the USA, we have witnessed large increases in the international origins of the refugees clamoring at our borders. For us in the Hill Country, along with our local potential to experience severe floods, we also adjoin the threshold of multitudes of people seeking refuge.

We well know the tension this causes to our politics and the stress on our ability to cope economically and emotionally. Weaker political systems can exhibit civil unrest from such pressures. Is that what we are witnessing today?

The demonization and generalizing about the “others” seeking to come here seems to be running rampant and has spread to virulent aspersions to anyone who doesn’t share OUR view of the world. We are, as a nation, demonstrating a level of civil unrest that one could argue is showing that our political bond is fraying.

Sadly, this characteristic is not unique to this country. It makes any progress toward ameliorating climate driven disasters - and the resulting displacements and disruptions of huge numbers of fellow humans - incredibly daunting. Indeed, there are thousands of proposed amendments to the scientific conclusions presented to the COP 26 from countries around the world that seek to minimize the nature of the threats and the need for action against climate change.

What I think we should remember is that even as we can harden our infrastructure and move our homes above the flood zones here in the Hill Country, we, as a world, are all in this together whether we like it or not. We need to show the capability to not just adjust our physical actions but also our thinking to accept that we have a problem to solve together.

For me, this means, that we as individuals need to lower the temperature around our different points of view and have our political representatives do the same. Keeping or attaining the position/ job of Senator or Representative or any other public office for ego or financial benefit should not be the driver of political (in)action nor the basis of calls for action. Although it is never the time for such political “games” such as incendiary rhetoric; when we are talking about global-scale disruptions of human society, we need pragmatic, comprehensive, fair and inclusive thinking and action. Let’s see if our political leaders and we as individuals have the guts along with the humility to act together.

Laurence Doxsey, Retired, Former Director of Office of Sustainability for City of San Antonio, former Environmental Officer for US Department of Housing and Urban Development, former Sustainability Officer for City of Austin, resides outside Medina.