Disasters Close to Home
About half of the core Climate Hive team lives in California and we are constantly reminded of the state’s wildfire risk. Still, little could have prepared us for the devastation caused by the ongoing Southern California wildfires. LA County, home to 10 million, lost thousands of structures and dozens of lives in just a day. There’s an estimated $50 billion in losses, with numbers likely to rise given more wind and no rain in the forecast.
In many ways, it’s strange to be writing about this while the danger is ongoing. Tens of thousands are still under evacuation order and there’s no end in sight. Some of us have old friends under evacuation order; we are a degree of separation away from folks who have lost everything. It’s a tragic event, and our whole team sends our sympathies to people affected by the fires.
We also know this isn’t the only climate catastrophe. Just a few months ago, Hurricane Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, flooding inland communities and creating an unprecedented disaster. FlexGen, one of our clients, is based in Durham, NC, and their team was in similar shoes to us in California: they knew people affected by the storm and were one degree of separation away from someone who lost everything. Some of their family members were hard hit. And many of the North Carolinians impacted by the storm are still recovering.
Grief and Climate Action
I found in my years working on climate that we must grieve disasters, then use them as motivation to cut emissions and build resilience. Sometimes, we can balance grief and motivation at the same time. Occasionally, we need to grieve for a while before we can say “XYZ climate event was bad, but thinking of it helps give me purpose.” People who have been personally impacted by a disaster may simply memory-hole it and use other, more distant events for motivation instead.
Many communities find even deeper grief and motivation from climate tragedies. My friends and colleagues with disabilities, for example, have all been sharing the story of Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee and his son Justin, who had cerebral palsy. Both men used wheelchairs and were waiting for first responders when the flames overtook their house. Seniors and people with disabilities are disproportionately likely to die in California’s wildfires, and advocates are right to be angry when people with disabilities die due to inaccessible warnings or lack of transportation. The disability community has used this as motivation, though. Credit abound for the many folks – in government, the private sector, and the advocacy community – who have learned from tragedy to improve disability disaster management. Still, each death is a difficult reminder there’s more to be done (and that life is precious).
Moving Forward Together
So, yet again, we are faced with a disaster – one that’s still unfolding – and at some point, in each of our own ways, will need to move forward. Some of us will take it as another reminder that 10 years ago wasn’t like this, and we’ll need to have the tough talk that “10 years from now will certainly be warmer, and the same 10 years after that, but dammit, exactly how warm and how well we adapt is up to us.” That’s the nature of climate work; “the future we face is up to us” is our rallying cry.
Climate action is ultimately about limiting the kinds of damage, tragedy and suffering we are seeing in Southern California, from now until long after each of us are gone. It takes a village to tackle all parts of climate action; it’ll also take lots of innovation. On that note, we are grateful to be working with so many innovative partners building a safer tomorrow. They include energy storage innovators, cleantech software providers, and manufacturers dramatically reducing waste and emissions. Some are focused on adaptation: FutureProof, for example, is assessing climate risks to help us build safer homes and cities. Every piece of the puzzle is important.
At Climate Hive, we’ll keep working to help every corner of the climate community to tell their story. And we are grateful to everyone, from researchers to founders to activists and first responders, working to save the climate and save lives.
Thanks to everyone out there for your climate action. Keep fighting the good fight, and take care of yourselves.
