The Frightening Lesson from Texas
Political failure in the face of the climate disasters
"By almost any measure, anyone born after 1990 is finding themselves in a new geological era, navigating a world fundamentally different from the one Baby Boomers and Gen Xers inherited. The chances of anyone alive today experiencing a year as relatively cool as 1996 are effectively nil." — John Vaillant, Fire Weather
It's called the Paradox of Lucretius: that a person cannot imagine a river bigger than the biggest one they have ever seen. And so, when trying to imagine how to prepare for a potential catastrophe, a person cannot see beyond what they know.
Take Canada's wildfires and the Texas flood disaster.
Wildfire North
Canada used to have summer. Now we have wildfire season.
When I was a kid growing up in the northern boreal forest, it was rare to smell smoke from a forest fire. And if there was smoke, it likely came from a local fire that the summer students at the fire ministry could quickly put out.
Now smoke from boreal fires is being felt in Europe. It forces people living in major American cities to stay indoors. These fires are so massive they pump more carbon into the atmosphere than the combined emissions of many large industrial countries.
Earlier this week, two Republican Congressmen, Tom Tiffany and Brad Finstad, wrote a letter of complaint to the Canadian Embassy about the smoke. They said that Canada's burning forests are spoiling the summer experience of their constituents. They are demanding that Canadian politicians do something about it.
It is certainly fair to raise the serious health issues of toxic fire smoke for vulnerable populations. But this letter? It was a stunt.
The Congressmen were demanding a plan to catch the arsonists.
To the far right, the spectre of unprecedented firestorms has nothing to do with the fact that we are in the hottest decade in history or that the world has blown past the 1.5 degree red line into climate instability.
The Congressmen would have us believe that the problem lies with a dedicated crew of pyromaniacs running around the planet from Australia to Greece, from the Arctic to California. But these are not just forest fires gone rogue.
The world crossed the threshold into a dangerous new epoch on May 23, 2001, with the Chisolm wildfire in Alberta. The conflagration released such ferocious power in such a short amount of time that its intensity was picked up by American military monitoring. They were convinced that Canada had just detonated a nuclear warhead.
The ferocity of the fire was unlike anything ever recorded – the equivalent of four Hiroshima bombs going off every minute during the peak hours of the firestorm.
Since then, devastating climate wildfires have only grown in power and damage. Climate firestorms are creating new meteorological language to describe the fire clouds and hurricanes. They are driving forces much more devastating than anything anyone could have ever imagined.
And yet, our two Congressmen have responded to the burning planet with a level of ridiculousness not seen since King Canute commanded the waves of the ocean to stop.
The Texas Disaster
As the Congressmen were shaking their fists at Canada, the rest of the world was coming to terms with the unprecedented flood in Texas. The Guadalupe River flood is a nightmare almost beyond comprehension.
As people prayed and worried for those swept away, their elected officials shirked responsibility and engaged in sandbox-style finger-pointing.
There was a time when political leaders would have put aside their bickering and flown immediately to the scene of disaster to reassure people. But with Trump, that hasn't happened.
Trump has zero compassion. No doubt, he is pissed off because the Texas disaster is interfering with his attempt to dismantle FEMA as he fires the weather scientists whose job it is to keep the public informed of storm threats.
Trump couldn't wait to visit the prison cages for detainees in Florida, but had little interest in seeing the horrific damage of the Guadalupe River flood.
And then there's Ted Cruz.
He was spotted hanging out in Greece as people were scrambling to find the girls who were swept away from their summer camp. Once the photo of him vacationing was posted online, he beat a quick retreat to Texas. It took social media shaming for Cruz to come back to the people he represents in their time of grief.
No doubt, the political war of blame and counterblame will continue to define the tragedy of Texas. It is important to get to the bottom of who failed and what systems were missing, but it obscures a more concerning question:
How will communities handle the frightening new power of flash storms?
The phrase we've heard again and again about the Texas disaster is that "no one saw it coming." But even if they had, they would not have believed it.
The Guadalupe River was swamped by a staggering 1.8 trillion gallons of rain. This forced water levels to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.
There was no outrunning the flood. There was no climbing onto a second-story roof.
And despite the hopeful but false story that some young girls found sanctuary in a tree, the campers never had a chance. Twenty-six feet of water is the equivalent of an inland tsunami.
This is the new face of climate floods.
And yet MAGA carries on dismantling the nation's weather predictive services, gutting the federal emergency response teams, and leaving people dangerously exposed to unprecedented storms.
Performative Politics
As Canadians, we can shake our heads at the cynicism south of the border. But our politicians aren't offering much better.
Prime Minister Carney has a long-standing reputation as the one global leader who fully understands the need to establish strong environmental action plans. And yet Canada's American-owned right-wing media have been doing high-fives over Carney's decision to kill a price on carbon while slashing commitments to EV production.
As Trump threatens our nation, Carney is responding with a promise to build another oil pipeline. After we just built one. As if Canada's massive oil industry is the poor orphan child of confederation.
Under the Trudeau government, Canada took the global lead in increased oil production. We have been pumping billions in subsidies to vastly expand operations that feed US refineries.
Our environment commissioner, Jerry Demarco, has pointed out that among the G7 nations, Canada stands out as a global outlier in failing to tackle emissions.
This past week, David Suzuki, Canada's environmental conscience, made a blunt admission. He believes that Canada has run out of time in addressing the climate catastrophe:
"It is now too late. We have failed to shift the narrative, and we are still caught up in the same legal, economic and political systems [that have promoted expansion of fossil fuels]. For me, what we've got to do now is hunker down."
Hunkering down — like those in Texas, picking through the ruins.
Hunkering down — like the people forced to flee their homes from firestorms.
The Final Paradox
In times of trouble, people look to their elected officials to do something. Anything.
We expect our leaders to tackle Lucretius' Paradox by thinking through a way forward.
But when it comes to the climate crisis, smart men like Mark Carney and cynical grifters like Congressmen Tiffany and Finstad are choosing the performative route.
Acting like King Canute. Standing at the shore, thinking they can keep us on the same path as the storm waves rise.
As much as I want to remain hopeful about the fate of our planet, I am not optimistic As a parent, grandparent and gardener, I am an optimist by definition, though perhaps not by conviction.
Trump was golfing when he was told of the disaster in Texas. Noem was posting photos of herself and asking her fans to choose which one should be displayed in the South Dakota governors hall of shame. And Texas voted overwhelmingly for the Orange Pig.
Is Canada doing its part to combat climate change? Not by a long shot.
There is enough shame to go around.
As I have said so many times, the Gangster down south has only one item on his agenda after filling his pockets: cruelty. Evidenced by his gestapo plucking kids out of schools and into concertation camps and his playing golf in climate change disaster season. He doesn't give a whit about the citizens struggling and starving.
We are way beyond a return to normal. And as one book I read said ,(and I believe): The Heat Will Get Us First. It will.