Earth 101: What’s the Big Deal About a Few Degrees?

Recently,  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report, which outlines the impacts and costs of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) of global warming. The panel studied over 6,000 scientific reports, and concluded that… it’s getting far worse than we thought.

 

“But seriously,” you might be thinking, “how can just a few degrees make such a difference? I mean, we experience diurnal temperature swings far greater than that every single day, right? What’s so wrong with a few extra days of summer anyway?”

 

A few degrees might seem inconsequential, but I’m here to explain how this affects us. Not hypothetically, but historically. 

 

What do we already have records of? We know that the entire planet is already 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C) hotter than it was prior to the 1900s. So what have we witnessed thus far?

When the air and water temperatures increase, there are some predictable trickle down effects. It’s very basic science. Remember those principles your science teacher taught you back in 6th grade? Hotter atmosphere holds more moisture.

According to the recent BBC article:

For every extra degree Celsius in warming, the atmosphere can hold 7% more water. This tends to make rainfall events even more extreme when they occur.

“The waters of the Gulf of Mexico are about 1.5 degrees warmer above what they were from 1980-2010,” Sir Brian Hoskins from the Grantham Institute for Climate Change told BBC Radio.

What does this mean?

Weather events occur because of differences in temperature. Hot air rises, and colder air rushes in to fill its place, until it heats up and moves up as well. This is why we have wind, and is the foundation for all weather patterns. When we have warmer air, it tends to be more unstable, and more likely to erupt into storms, just like what you’ve seen on a hot, muggy summer afternoon. With warmer air, comes more storms, more high winds, more damaging hail, more downpours, and more devastating floods.

(Learn more about other effects from a warmer climate in future posts from this Earth 101 series)

Image: Ocean temperature variation from average

When it comes to storms over water, we get a double whammy. As ocean temperatures rise, they feed the unpredictability and intensity of tropical depressions and can turn a Category 2 hurricane into a Cat. 4 in a matter of hours. Just ask the Mexico Beach, Florida.

 

As the Union of Concerned Scientists reiterates, the facts about the earth’s previous temperature rise are indisputable:

“Over the past 130 years, the global average temperature has increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, with more than half of that increase occurring over only the past 35 years. The pattern is unmistakable: Every one of the past 40 years has been warmer than the 20th century average. 2016 was the hottest year on record. The 12 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998.”

 

So, the temperature rise is happening, but why is it really making a noticeable difference?

According to data provided by the U.S.’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we now have 400% more extreme weather events causing at least $1 billion in economic losses, compared to the 1980s. Some of that increase is due to greater density of buildings along coastlines, but most is due to increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. In 2017, the United States experienced the most rainfall EVER received from a single tropical storm, leaving Houston drowning.

When you look at all natural disasters in the U.S. between 1980-2016, tropical cyclones and flooding represent single biggest financial losses, totaling $580.7 billion, CPI-adjusted. They are are responsible for the highest number of deaths (3,210), followed by drought/heatwave events (2,993) and severe storms (1,578).

 

It’s bigger than it looks.

Extreme weather events may be isolated geographically, but in today’s global economy the impacts send ripples worldwide. When just  one hurricane hits, it not only devastates families who lost their homes, it also means businesses are shut down, jobs are lost, people with jobs have nowhere to live or no way to get to work. When those jobs are in manufacturing, this means that a critical supplier in Georgia may cause months of delay to a manufacturer in Detroit. So, emergency measures are taken, it costs significantly more money to source alternate suppliers and expedite shipping. All the sudden, that hurricane 300 miles away from you means that your next purchase may actually cost you more out of your wallet. 

Beyond the human impacts, there are so many more effects from global warming. 

For all the beautiful and mysterious life brimming beneath the ocean’s surface, life is literally dying because of a few degrees. We’ve lost more coral reefs than you can imagine, with even the Great Barrier Reef being declared ‘dead.’ This is due to warming ocean temps, and more CO2 absorbed by the ocean, making it more acidic. Despite a history spanning over 6,000 years old, the delicate ecosystem cannot evolve fast enough to keep up with our current pace of change. We’ve already witnessed this permanent destruction:

• Coral reefs bleached
• Infectious diseases spread
• Acidity weakens the coral’s structure
• Fish are suffocating from algae blooms caused by floodwater
• Plants are dying from sunlight being blocked out by sediment from heavy rains

By the way, all of the damage to coral reefs has already come back to bite humans. We rely on healthy oceans for tourism, fishing, and seafood industries, which have all suffered losses due to the ocean’s decline over the past 40 years.

Here’s the deal. We need to quit squabbling over the cause of climate change, and start adapting to our new reality.

We are beyond the point of preventing climate change. We are already in the middle of something massive, and we’ve already made history. But, we do have the power to prevent more extreme devastation. We can slow down global warming by cutting our emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. We can plan for more extreme weather events. We can build safer, super-insulated buildings that can withstand hurricanes and epic temperature extremes. We can prepare our cities for 100 year floods. We can manage forests and limit development where wildfire risks are highest. We can continue to develop new, zero-emission technologies. We can invest in more carbon sinks, and preserve the ones Mother Nature provided us.

 

You can make choices every day to lower your carbon footprint. We all can do more. However, in order to reverse course, we must have leadership that recognizes the incredible health and safety risk that we are currently facing. Even if you don’t believe the scientists who spend their entire careers studying climate, you cannot deny the unusual increase in extreme weather events that we are now seeing year after year. 

 

The facts are clear, despite the uneducated, unscientific opinions you may hear. ‘The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”  tweeted by Donald Trump on November 6, 2012.

Earth 101: Why Should I care?

Our beloved host planet is changing, slowly but surely. In fact, it’s always changing. While change is fairly constant, it’s the quickening rate of change and the direction that is causing the uproar. Right now, despite being historically overdue for a cool-down in the Earth’s climate (more on this later in this series), we are starting to see the effects of a slow but increasing rise in the earth’s surface temperature, in ways both big and small.

Our global community is made up of millions of unique, diverse individuals, with different backgrounds, different values, and different beliefs. Yet, we share a common goal. We all enjoy a pleasant life on this planet, with relatively low, well-known risks. How can we maintain a hospitable environment, and prevent a degradation that risks our way of life?

What motivates us to do anything will naturally vary, but everyone can find common ground with so many drivers behind environmental adaptation. Before we can dive into the “how,” we must first understand the “why.”

Why should you care about the impacts of our changing planet?

 

Q1: Do You Thrive on Constant Change? Most people naturally prefer the comfort and familiarity of things staying pretty much the same. We don’t like being forced to learn an entirely new software, or being detoured due to construction, or the discomfort and inconvenience of an unexpected relocation, either at work or at home. Yet, we are already seeing measurable impacts that are forcing us to adapt our lifestyles to the new reality of a changing climate, and the change will just keep forcing us to adjust more and more frequently if we stay the course.

 

Q2: Do You Enjoy Eating and Drinking? Or Fun Excursions?  Hundreds of industries are already being impacted by unpredictable seasonal temperature swings, uncontrollable wildfires, massive snow melts, extreme rain events that cause flooding, and deadly droughts. Whether it’s a frostbitten crop of cherry blossoms, or a rural snowmobiling community that languishes, or charred vineyards, or empty maple syrup barrels, or green ski resorts, or thirsty hops for brewing beer, there are countless commodities and tourist destinations that are suffering from wild swings in weather, resulting from a destabilized climate.

 

 

Q3: Do You Love the Beach? Or Camping? Or Hunting? Or Hiking? Beaches won’t be quite as fun without the sandy part where you picnic and play. Sea level is expected to rise five inches during the next 40 years. This might not sound like much, but that is enough to cause flooding in hundreds of coastal cities such as New York, Washington, Miami, Houston and others worldwide. About 40% of Americans live at or near the coast. The cost of protecting coastal cities from the rising seas will be extraordinary, and this is in addition to damage from increasingly frequent and unusually strong hurricanes.

Inland natural areas aren’t much safer, though the reasons are more varied. Regardless of how you like to enjoy the great outdoors, the rapid changes are happening too fast for most plants and animals to evolve, which means that we are seeing more invasive species taking over with shifting growing zones, animal migration patterns disrupted, delicate ecosystems thrown out of balance, and noticeable shifts in the serene surroundings we love to escape to.

 

Q4: Do You Want to See a Stable Economy? The evidence is already clear. Climate Change is costing our economy billions of dollars every year. The World Economic Forum just issued their latest report, assessment by 1,000 experts, of the greatest risks to business.

“September 2017 was the most intense month on record for extreme weather events, as well as the most expensive U.S. hurricane season since 2005 with economic losses in excess of $300 billion,” Group Chief Risk Officer Alison Martin said.

The historical trend shows that year after year, environmental risks due to climate change are becoming increasingly bigger risks, relative to other critical threats like a slowing Chinese economy, Middle East unrest, and unemployment. Sharply rising insurance costs already reflect the reality that the insurance industry has been tracking closely for decades: climate change is already costing the U.S. billions more annually. Just as we expect our government to step in to manage other aspects of our economy, this key risk to our economy cannot continue to be ignored.

 

Q5: Are You a Humanitarian? Do you care about feeding the hungry, and preventing children from starving? Do you want to stop the spread of infectious diseases and end the suffering of victims of terrible illnesses? Countless studies, including the USDA, now show an annual decline of 2-4% in crop productivity per average acre in the United States at a result of changes in climate; but the forecast of devastation is far worse in other parts of the world. You can also expect a greater occurrence of dengue, Zika, and other mosquito-borne diseases, and even more occurrences of tick-borne diseases, like Lyme disease.

 

 

Q6: Do you believe in a Higher Power? Most religions have sacred texts that tell us exactly how we are supposed to treat the earth. It is our duty to protect the land, the air, the water, and all the creatures created to coexist on this planet alongside human beings.

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”- Job 12:7-10

The Bible even seems to allude to our exact crisis of extreme weather and higher temperatures.

“The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.” – Isaiah 24:4-6

In Islam, the sacred text references in numerous places the inherent role of humans to be stewards of the land. There are more than 750 verses in the Qur’an that are related to nature.

“And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.” – Qur’an, 6:38

 

Q7: Are You a Republican, a Democrat, or Neither? The reality is, this is not a partisan issue. In recent history, the U.S. has tackled numerous environmental threats under both democratic and republican presidencies. You might be fooled into thinking that protecting the environment that we live in is not in the hearts of republicans, but that simply isn’t true. President George H.W. Bush, who ran for office as the “environmental president,” signed into law a novel, market-based approach- a cap-and-trade system limiting pollution that helped stop the acid-rain crisis.

Before that, Reagan’s leadership addressed the stratospheric ozone hole by creating new regulations on chlorofluorocarbon emissions. Back in the 80s, our GOP Leadership saw this as a crisis that required immediate, international collaboration to resolve. Parties worked together for the health and safety of Americans… AND IT WORKED. Despite the sharp reversal of the current administration, both republicans and democrats care about the large-scale implications of major environmental crises, and it’s time for the U.S. to return to the global stage as a leader in this.

How to Choose Your Own Adventure: 6 Valuable Tips!

It’s true, we love to travel. A LOT. But we would still love to travel even more than we do. Which begs the question we get asked often, “What’s your next trip?”

Believe it or not, we actually have SO many places that we want to visit, we need a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. And we are also armed with some very key strategies to help us choose, “Where to?”

 

 

For most people, planning vacation can be pretty easy. Pick a sunny beach in Florida and book a week in January. Done. Rinse and repeat. This is swell for those people, but this just doesn’t cut it for those of us with the insatiable Wanderlust bug. It can sometimes feel overwhelming, knowing that I won’t live long enough to see ALL the places I want to see before I die. So how do we choose?

 

We’re Not Getting Any Younger

Although I’m only 37 1/2, I’m very aware of the reality that, the older I get, the harder it’s going to be to travel. Some of the most vigorous hikes will become too challenging for my aching bones. Long flights will wreak havoc with my veins. It will take me longer to recover from the energy spent simply getting there.

Tip #1: Do the most difficult hiking now. Push your boundaries while your body is at its physical peak, before it declines too far. The older I get, the more I recognize my own mortality, which can cause doubt, and make you shy away from something you wouldn’t have thought twice about in your twenties.

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I can tell you know that I’ve enjoyed several life-changing hikes, and some of them were so physically intense, I doubt that I will ever attempt them again. Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park in Utah, USA is one not for the faint-hearted! At least that hike is only a couple of miles from the starting point. Havasupai in Arizona, USA was not just scary at one point, but also tested our endurance, with 34 miles logged in a 2-night trip.

Tip #2: Fly as Far Away as Possible! While these longer flights can be tougher to afford when you are younger, your body will thank you for sticking closer to home in later decades. Recently, I spent over 50 hours traveling to Sri Lanka, and when I arrived, both of my ankles were noticably swollen! This has never happened to me before, and I didn’t realize that I wasn’t moving enough while flying. The swelling lasted for 24 hours, and was a bit scary and uncomfortable. This can also be a symptom of another serious risk, Deep Vein Thrombosis. The risk of thrombosis increases on longer flights, and gets worse with age, as well as many other factors (including birth control pills!). This may seem like a weird thing to think about when you are young, but, believe me, blood clots are a serious and deadly risk. This is why you see airline passengers standing and walking around for long periods of time on flights over 4 hours.

So, next on my long-distance list? New Zealand!

The Climate IS Changing… Faster Than You Think

When we add a new destination to our travel spreadsheet, a critical factor is climate change. There are some amazing places on this planet that I may not get to before they are irreversibly changed as a result of climate change. We prioritize these destinations based on the estimated risks.

Tip #3: Prioritize Places at Risk from Climate Change. This is not a hoax. In 2014 I decided to cross off Glacier National Park because I had read about the melting glaciers. I wanted to make it there before Glacier has no glaciers left to see. It was a last minute, 4 day trip, and was not nearly enough to explore all of the amazing sights and experiences to be had there. Now my goal is to make it back before 2020 for some back-country thru-hiking. 

Here’s my own list of climate-change destinations that I’ve managed to check off:

• Glacier National Park in Montana, USA. This is one of the most stunning, expansive parks in our country, with an incredible variety of visual decadence to explore! Experts believe we have until 2020 before the last of the monumental glaciers are gone forever.
• Everglades National Park in Florida, USA. Sea levels are slowly rising, at different speeds across the globe. As the ocean starts to take back Florida and other coastal areas, the unique biodiversity harbored in the freshwater/seawater interchange will be devastated, causing extinction of numerous creatures.
• The Maldives.  This chain of over 2,000 islands makes up a paradise country located closest to India.  The former president of the Maldives recognized the harsh reality that their entire country- no more than 4 feet above sea level- would eventually be completely lost to climate change. He fought to take the country to being Net Zero Energy to slow climate change, but was since removed from office after a coo. There’s a great documentary called The Island President that can catch you up on their plight.

Travel is Getting Riskier

It’s a scary time in our world right now. The number of terror attacks had rapidly risen compared to just 10 years ago. I’ll be honest- it’s terrifying to think about. I don’t want to let terrorists win by becoming a fetal position shut-in, but I also take this risk seriously. When we booked our flight to Sri Lanka last year, I debated about whether or not to take the cheapest fare, which took us through Turkey, with an 8 hour layover in Istanbul. I researched heavily before deciding whether or not we would leave the airport to see some of the city while there. The day we flew out of Chicago, we were delayed 4 hours in a snowstorm, and my phone started blowing up with messages from friends on Facebook asking if we were okay. There had been a bombing in Istanbul that we had just missed.

While the optimist in me wants to hope that we will win the ‘war on terrorism’ globally, my gut tells me otherwise. I see such a rapid increase in radicalized groups and violent attacks, that I fear it will never be safe again to travel to some parts of the world. Would I love to see Pakistan? Sure! Do I think I will ever feel safe enough in my lifetime to go there? Nope. 

Tip #4: Don’t Ignore Political Shifts. If a country that is on your list appears to be getting less safe, pay attention! I wish I had gone to Egypt a decade ago, and don’t know if I’ll ever get to go now. I’m incredibly grateful that I got to visit Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, however briefly, but I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I’m actually flying through that same airport again next April, and have zero interest in leaving the airport next time, due to safety concerns. Before you book your flight, do your homework and know your risks. 

There are many amazing, world-renowned world heritage sites, but some of them are at risk due to wars. UNESCO catalogs all of the official World Heritage Sites, and color codes them to highlight ones at risk of being destroyed. If it’s safe to go there, don’t wait.

Make a Plan, But Don’t Stick to It!

I’m all about research, spreadsheets, and lists, but I do not recommend you treat this as a commitment. In my Wanderlust spreadsheet, I collect links and jot down places I’ve never heard of when I read an article about someplace new. For those that I’m serious about, I actually put in a target year for traveling there, and sometimes I actually get there that year. Other times, it may get pushed back, or some new destination takes higher priority. And that’s okay. When my friend Raina moved to Sweden 7 years ago, it got added to my list, but I’m just now finally making it over there to see her!

Tip #5: Be Flexible, and Jump at New Opportunities! When your high school friend joins the Peace Corp and moves to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for 2-3 years… don’t be caught kicking yourself at her welcome back party because you never made it to visit her while she was there! Knowing someone in a foreign country is a perfect excuse to travel, and a great way to get a local experience!

Tip #6: Make Your Own Opportunities! If you have the travel bug, and you know this will be a lifelong need, don’t waste time wishing you could travel more… build the life you want! Do you have a dream job that would help you to travel? Apply relentlessly!

While I love my job, my travel is limited to the state of Indiana, so I only get to travel on my own time. But, I chose to combine career advancement and my love of travel, and started applying to present at international conferences. This strategy has taken me to Split, Croatia, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Kandy, Sri Lanka! I go on my own dime, using vacation time, but now I can proudly list on my resume “International Speaker” for 3 very prestigious conferences in my field of expertise. Win-Win!

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Do you have a natural ‘break’ in life, like going back to school or moving across the country? Take advantage of it! I actually delayed starting college after high school so that I could travel the U.S. for 3 months, and it’s the best thing I could have ever done. I made that choice when I was a sophomore in high school, and started saving up for my epic graduation road trip.

Are there volunteer opportunities that you can get involved with and get to travel? Do it! There are a number of ways to give back while sharing another culture. Build a school with a community, dig a well in Africa, or raise money for a good cause through travel sports! My first trip to Hawaii was done for ‘free,’ by fundraising $4,500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by running my first Marathon in Honolulu!

Bottom line, if you want to travel, there are a myriad of ways to achieve your goals. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Go grab the world by the mountaintops!

Remember, not all those who wander are lost.

 

 

 

 

Glacial Poetry

For 6,000 years, it lived.

A cold, hard gemstone of ice.

More real and permanent than my very bones.

Sperry glacier.

 

It lived atop these mountains.

One solid mile deep.

Blue as eagles’ tears.

Green as a longhorn’s dinner.

 

It hid beneath this winter blanket.

Six feet of April snow.

 

No match for the glacier.

 

It carved the valleys below.

It built the passes ahead.

 

Its true enormity is lost.

Only blue –green waters, flowing,

Emerging beneath the snow,

Like a rug about to be pulled.

 

It fills the valley with turquoise lakes,

Nourishing birds, cubs, and fawns.

For 6,000 years, it has been.

Only for 6 years more.

 

~krw~ 

8.26.14

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The Climate of Art Fairs

It’s Art Fair week in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This can mean only one thing… ridiculously hot, humid weather with no overnight relief, and at least one torrential thunderstorm. Thousands of people from across the country flock to this city every year to display and explore the many arts and crafts that fill the streets for four days. You might not find the art-on-a-stick you were searching for, but one thing is certain. The unpredictable weather is the only predictable thing about this climate!

 

Despite the cold winters and stunning springs, summer here never ceases to amaze me with its dripping humidity, rivaling Houston. We either get comfortable 70s for highs, or 95 and humid. There’s little in between, it seems. Meanwhile, denizens of the mitten are battling to maintain their Midwestern niceties after 6 days in a row of excessive heat warnings. We’ve lost our cool.

While folks love to live here because of the ever-changing seasons, it also makes it harder to adapt. They say that if you don’t like the weather in Michigan, just wait 5 minutes. It’s true, it is highly variable. This also means that by the time you’ve figured out how to live in one set of conditions, the rules change. How are people supposed to be expected to know the precise conditions in which it makes sense to open your windows to allow a cool breeze in, or when to close them to keep out the heat?

This is where some other climates have an advantage. When you live in Texas or Thailand, you have a pretty good idea of what conditions you will face each and every day, with a slow and gradual transition between summer and ‘winter.’ There are tried and true methods to beat the heat, including a plunge into the icy cold spring-fed waters of Barton Springs. Just a quick dip in this conveniently dammed-up river will cool you to your core, and leave you feeling refreshed for the next several hours.

In most northern states, you can depend on a warm summer, but rarely does the humidity slap you in the face the way it does once it’s crossed the great lakes. So, we crank up the A/C, suffer through power outages, and complain on Facebook. Within a week- two at the absolute max- it will be over. And we will have learned nothing about living in extreme weather.

One of the predominate conversations currently taking place in the sustainability realm is talk about adaptation. Our global conditions are warming, permanent changes are happening to our climates as we know them. Hardiness zones are creeping, with warmer weather plants thriving where they never used to grow. And if we don’t learn to adapt to our new reality, we face a very rough future. We can no longer simply say, “Turn off your A/C” and expect the world to go back to ‘normal.’ No, now we must both mitigate the conditions AND adapt our own designs to reflect our climate change conditions.

So, as sweat rolls down my back, I learn to walk on the shady side of the street instead of the sunny side, and instead of getting in my hybrid car and driving half a mile to get breakfast. I wear lighter, more casual clothing at work to moderate my own body temperature instead of wearing a suit and cranking down the thermostat. As a planning commissioner, I learn to demand more shady trees lining sidewalks in my community. As an architect, I suggest that new developments incorporate rain gardens into their site plans to buffer the severe rain events that are growing ever more common and overloading our cities’ infrastructures.

I may not be able to teach the world, but we can teach each other. Go move your temperature from 72 to 78 and sit under a ceiling fan. You’ll be amazed how comfortable you can be, and how much electricity you will save when you take the time to learn, and adapt, to our changing climate.

Disappearing Communities

Somewhere over the Atlantic ocean, some 15 hours into a 23 hour travel day, I sit in an airline seat with sore hips and a need to reposition myself. Luckily, I am traveling next to the most wonderful, generous, inspiring travel companion one could ever hope for- my wife, Bethany. I lean my head against her shoulder, our self-inflated neck pillows creating a workable cushion for us, and we leaned our ears close together so that we could share a set of headphones and watch our fourth movie together. We pulled out the umbilical cord attached to the seat and our armrest gave birth to a remote. I pressed the buttons on the tiny remote until my thumb was bruised, and finally, the screen lit up with the opening scene of  “The Island President.”

I am no stranger to climate change. I was the precocious president of Earth Club in high school in the 90s, and my sole passion in everything that I do professionally is related to spreading the word on the importance of sustainable living. (And, yes, I realize the irony of this statement giving the current setting on a jet plane leapfrogging the continents with a trail of carbon emissions). I had heard about the plight of the Maldives before. But this documentary isn’t just another sad story of natural disaster. It is about how our world responds.

As with many other low-lying island nations, they are at risk of being completely swallowed by the rising oceans. Almost 1200 coral islands off of the Indian sub-continent combine to form this disperse island nation.Only 200 of those coral islands are inhabited, but the entire country covers 400 miles of open sea. It is one of the most geographically dispersed nations on earth, and the closest to sea level. For them, climate change is not a theory, it’s a reality. In this small country, they are way beyond mitigation. They are almost past adaptation, even. While they spend millions piling up sand along their shorelines, they are well aware that they are only delaying the inevitable. Their home country will no longer exist for the next generation.

A rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable.

In December 26th, 2004, the chain of islands was hit by a Tsunami in the Indian ocean. Only 9 islands survived unscathed, while 108 people died. The tallest wave was 14 feet high. According to ousted president Nasheed, “If carbon emissions were to stop today, the planet would not see a difference for 60 to 70 years,” Nasheed said. “If carbon emissions continue at the rate they are climbing today, my country will be underwater in seven years.”

By 2020, Maldives plans to eliminate or offset all of its greenhouse gas emissions. At the 2009 International Climate Talks, President Mohamed Nasheed explained that:

“For us swearing off fossil fuels is not only the right thing to do, it is in our economic self-interest… Pioneering countries will free themselves from the unpredictable price of foreign oil; they will capitalize on the new green economy of the future, and they will enhance their moral standing giving them greater political influence on the world stage.”

This is a powerful and inspiring story. Here is this leader of a country who, after fighting a dictatorship for 20 years, including imprisonment, finally succeeds at a regime change and becomes president at age 41. He tackles nothing less than the biggest global crisis facing our planet, even though there is ultimately little impact he can directly have that will save his country. Still, they devote their remaining efforts to becoming carbon neutral, to set an example for all the rest of us. If they can do it, with what little resources they have, why can’t the rest of us? Well, that’s simple. We don’t have nearly as much to lose.

Long before I had heard of the Maldives’ dilemma, I was actually already closely following a similar story on the island of Nauru. This 8 mile long island nation came up in a world geography game that I was playing, and I became instantly infatuated by it. Like the Maldives, Nauru is disappearing, and its denizens are becoming climate refugees in nearby nations. While it is kind of Australia to take on the lost islanders, it must be absolutely tragic to lose one’s own country. Not just fleeing it, as millions have been forced to do, but knowing that it will not even be there to go back to in the future. Unless you bring your scuba gear. It’s like a modern day Atlantis.

I find it interesting to draw a parallel between this and my own nation. You may think we have little in common with the fewer than 300,000 Maldivian people. Yet, just last fall the U.S. East Coast suffered a deluge of damage from Hurricane Sandy. The aftermath included an onslaught of criticism and discussion about the rights of property owners who choose to rebuild in an area so subject to natural disasters. Should they even be allowed to rebuild? Should insurance be responsible for those who know they are at risk, but who choose to stay here anyway? It’s a very stark contrast to the feel-good story about Nasheed’s nation. Who’s to say what is right?

We had the same discussion when Hurricane Katrina wiped out parts of Louisiana that were only in existence thanks to complicated levy systems that held back the flow of water from what would otherwise be an underwater oasis. At what point is human intervention considered desirable to alter nature’s course? Do property owners always override natural patterns? You could argue that government should buy back these at risk properties for natural preservation areas, and let them return to what they once were. Or that it’s up to the homeowners to pay for their own losses if they choose to stay in a high risk area. How does this mode of thinking translate back to someplace like the Maldives?

In our country, we assume that all people have the luxury to relocate. We have plenty of other land available, so why don’t they just get a job somewhere else? It seems so black and white. Yet, the one thing that I think the Maldives can teach us, is that sometimes is not where, but what, that matters. In their case, there is no where else to go. Almost 80% of their land mass is at risk. If they move, they are moving to Sri Lanka, or India, or another country. This seems like a devastating loss. They will loss their communities, their traditions, their very culture… likely even their language will disappear over time.

Do we not lose out in these same ways when we are forced to move? We may not have the same depth of history or culture in our own communities, but you can bet that those Katrina refugees suffered from feeling lost, hopeless, depressed, when dispersed amongst the rest of the nation. They didn’t even have to leave the country. But their loss is no less powerful on an individual level.

All I’m saying, is that we need to have more appreciation for what we have. Our natural resources allow us to live in these perfect little micro-climates, each with their own cultural dialects and norms. We are all at risk. Not only due to global climate change, but due to a societal shift away from the importance of community. It doesn’t matter if you live in a grass hut village along the banks of the Mekong, or in Mexican town in Detroit. We all thrive on our communities, and we need to work a little harder to preserve not only our own, but everyone else’s too.