Climate courage

It is time for courage to face the greatest threat to humanity and all life on earth. We must face the threat of the climate emergency, and then draw on our courage to act to ensure we do not face a terrible future. It’s a fight for our children’s future.

Capitalism at risk

From rising oceans to failing systems: a call for climate courage

I wrote this as a long social media post, but those sorts of posts get lost, so capturing it into a blog and making it look prettier. We are having a break from The Know Show and Climate Courage over the next two weeks, but I wanted to make sure you saw some significant news or thought leadership articles released this week. First is this article by Günther Thallinger, board member of Allianz SE – one of the world’s largest insurance companies – Climate, Risk, Insurance: The Future of Capitalism | LinkedIn. This is worth a read, but here’s a few highlights. “These extreme weather phenomena drive direct physical risks to all categories of human-owned assets—land, houses, roads, power lines, railways, ports, and factories. Heat and water destroy capital. Flooded homes lose value. Overheated cities become uninhabitable. Entire asset classes are degrading in real time, which translates to loss of value, business interruption, and market devaluation on a systemic level. “This is not a one-off market adjustment. This is a systemic risk that threatens the very foundation of the financial sector. If insurance is no longer available, other financial services become unavailable too. A house that cannot be insured cannot be mortgaged. No bank will issue loans for uninsurable property. Credit markets freeze. This is a climate-induced credit crunch. Further down in the blog he says: “At that point, risk cannot be transferred (no insurance), risk cannot be absorbed (no public capacity), and risk cannot be adapted to (physical limits exceeded). That means no more mortgages, no new real estate development, no long-term investment, no financial stability. The financial sector as we know it ceases to function. And with it, capitalism as we know it ceases to be viable.” This is an issue Dr David Ko and Richard Busellato discuss on Climate Courage regularly. It’s critical we understand it and if you’re not following insurance industry and risk experts, this is a good time to start – especially if you have a home, car, investments, pension, or any future ambitions really. The article obviously resonated, and the Guardian picked up the piece here Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer. The average person will be 40% poorer in a 4°C world But here’s another article that got my attention this week. Apparently, the average person will be 40% poorer if the world warms by 4°C. Really? The average person will be dead. Honestly, I sometimes wonder how people who understand the economy continue to struggle to see the bigger picture. Everything from here is exponential. Examples of impacts to come I mean just methane released from melting permafrost as heating escalates will be disastrous. And remember methane is 100 times more potent than CO2 in the short term. Or the mountain glaciers. We’ve lost 40% of ice from mountain glaciers in the last two decades (specifically in Europe) and they will be gone well before 2°C, or maybe they’ll struggle on until 2.5°C! Beyond that? Tell ‘em they’re dreaming. When the glacier run-off is gone for people, agriculture, and all living beings in the path of these mighty ice flows, un-liveability follows. That’s billions when looking at the Himalayas. But let’s look at some other examples. According to scientists, we lose 90% of corals at 1.5°C, and 99% at 2°C. We’re already at 1.6°C and it’s well on the way – Great Barrier Reef & Ningaloo Simultaneously Hit With ‘Heartbreaking’ Coral Bleaching. No corals mean life in the oceans collapse, the acidification of the ocean goes into overdrive, the billions who rely on it are dead OR on your doorstep in their millions, if not billions, seeking refuge. Based on how we respond to refugees now, with much smaller numbers on the move, war, savagery and suffering are guaranteed. This is just one piece of the bigger story. Food security crisis On the land, our food is also at risk, which will only escalate. This includes the meat we eat, the agriculture we rely on, coffee, chocolate, beer, etc… that’ll all be long before 4°C of warming. One example getting attention in the news is honeybees are dying at an alarming rate, and beekeepers are experiencing the “worst bee loss in recorded history.” Oh don’t worry, we’ll invent mini-bee robots, that’ll solve it. NO IT WON’T!! If we lose the bees, crop losses accelerate, bigger ecosystem impacts unravel and collapse, extinction, etc, etc, etc Honeybees Are Dying At An Alarming Rate As Beekeepers Experience “Worst Bee Loss In Recorded History” Another real-time example. Queensland has lost nearly 150,000 cows and sheep in the recent floods, which is devastating for the farmers, but equally, anyone who buys or relies on meat from Australia will see prices skyrocket – Experts warn meat prices could rise as QLD flooding wipes out cattle | news.com.au. ‘No warning’ as Queensland flood livestock losses top 144,000 – Sheep Central. But let’s think further than this event and look at the not-to-distant future as heating escalates. Australia experiences summer temperatures too hot for the livestock to survive, and then it gets hit again by floods of the scale seen in the past two weeks (or even higher levels of flooding). We would be looking at 100% mortality for the whole state? How far off is that? You’re going vegan, whether you like it or not Do you think you’ll still be able to enjoy burgers at your favorite fast-food restaurant when events like this hit multiple countries across the world at the same time or in the same year? Going vegan won’t be a choice when we hit that stage of the climate emergency, it will be the only food we have left… Although that also depends on droughts and extreme weather events in crop growing areas, which means massive food shortages are a certainty and it won’t just be in poor countries. It will have a global impact. That is what we must be thinking about – where this all leads us.

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Hurricane Helene

What Hurricane Helene tells us about preparing for disasters

I have been consumed trying to understand the scale of devastation from Hurricane Helene across the five states impacted, and I know it will be sometime before we do get a sense of the scale. You can see many videos and articles on my knowledge page if you’re trying to make sense of it too. I’m updating it every day. I don’t know this area, but reports are talking about many mountainous towns cut off, and the BBC reported today that there are 11,000 missing persons requests. As with the Nepal floods, the final numbers could be staggering. However, one issue that has really risen to the top of the news cycle is how quickly everyone is struggling to survive after the storm. This is a massive lesson for all of us to heed, because looking at how things are going around the world, we too, will face a catastrophic event. What I’ve noticed so far Power – thankfully it’s not extremely hot or cold right now, or the power outages could be an even bigger issue, but two million people remain without power and repairing power sources will take a long time. The impact on survivors was fast too, because within days of the storm, all the food was gone or ruined because fridges had no power. With supermarkets also destroyed in the storm, this left people with nothing Roads and bridges collapsed – people can’t get in or out across huge parts of the areas impacted, and this is a major issue for search and rescue, food and water distribution, as well as for medical needs. The only way in or out is by air, and looking at the scale of the damage, this will make it even more challenging to get help where it’s needed. The road and bridge damage is so vast, it will take months to get the main roads working again. The back roads and bridges, even longer Medical – one of the recurring stories was how quickly we heard about people in dire medical need, not because they were harmed in the storm, but because of existing conditions. They had no access to life saving medicine or the machines they need to keep them alive Phone – we are all on mobile phones these days and all the towers went out, which has created a HUGE issue as people are still unable to speak to family and friends. Many have no idea if their loved ones survived the storm and because of the other issues – like roads destroyed – they can’t get to them or speak to them. We need to address communication channels urgently Water – the water supplies have been inundated because of the storm, so there is no access to fresh water, and it’s challenging to get water into affected parts. Survivors are collecting buckets of brown water from lakes and rivers to flush toilets and have no choice but to boil it to drink Sewage – the sewers were also inundated and that is going to be a major infrastructure repair job, which will take a very long time to fix. It’s also a risk for spreading disease Cash – because the power is out, people can’t pay for food at the supermarkets – if the supermarkets are still running. Just another example of how our reliance on digital technology, which requires power and mobile towers to operate – does not serve us when it comes to a disaster What are the big take-aways? Infrastructure readiness for the climate we have coming, not the one we had in the past. This includes roads, bridges, power, water, sewage, etc… Vote for leaders committed to this, and do not vote for anyone who is not taking this seriously Communication channels/devices that don’t rely on towers that will be destroyed in major storms. We need to focus on traditional battery run devices, because you can’t charge anything when you have no power Stock up on tinned food and bottled water – every home needs to have a stash, so neighbours can take care of those who may lose their food. This is something I did in Thailand before we left. I was ready for anything Medical supplies – if the storms are coming through so fast there’s not enough warning to leave OR the severity is not understood until after-the-fact, make sure you have medical supplies for at least a couple of weeks. Add things like glasses and contact lenses too if you need them Cash is king when the power goes out. Have enough on hand to get through at least a couple of weeks What would you add? Looking at the extreme weather events impacting every corner of the world, it’s time to start thinking through what you’d do in an emergency, as well as thinking through the risks you face, as a community and personally. Let’s all get prepared, based on the possible risks we know we could face where we live. Cheers Andrea All my contact information is here. You can buy me a coffee to support my work here. Uncommon Courage is an invitation to be your courageous best self every day. It’s also an antidote to the overwhelm, fear, and rage rolling around the world. But it’s more than a book; it’s an invitation to join an inclusive community that wants to better understand humanities challenges – both global and personal – in order to take courageous action and create a better world for everyone. You can buy it on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Booktopia, Smashwords, Kobo, Gardners, Odilo, Indie Bound, BookShop by BookTrib and Scribd. Better yet, order it from your local bookstore, so you can #SupportLocal. You can read the reviews, including a new five-star review on Book Commentary, another five-star review on ReaderViews, a review on BookTrib, and three more on Booklife, another on Book Commentary and Blue Ink Reviews. I’m also collating reviews on my Website too. Have a look and grateful

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