But Nature can’t teach what we refuse to learn.
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Devastating fires, deadly hurricanes, destructive floods… whenever a once-in-a-lifetime natural disaster hits the US (which seems to happen a lot more than once in a lifetime these days), experts and politicians quarrel over who or what is to blame.
In the case of the blazes currently tearing through parts of southern California, various factions claim that climate change is responsible, or mismanagement, or a lack of preparedness, or perhaps lesbian fire chiefs.
They are all quick to exploit the suffering of Americans to score political points; but ultimately it does not matter what they think — because nature is on the march to teach humanity a lesson, and it does not care about petty politics.
Are sea levels really rising? If you live in Miami or San Diego, or if you are one of the millions of other Americans who live near a coast, you’re going to find out. Many have already found out, though some are inclined to blame not Nature but the “government,” which they are convinced is controlling the weather for nefarious ends.
And that water is coming, regardless of whether you live in a red state or a blue state. So is that powerful hurricane, the wildfire, the floods, or the droughts.
In fact, it’s already happening… not just in the US, but everywhere. If it has not touched your life yet (although it probably has, for example through rising insurance rates), then that’s simply good fortune. But it will.
It seems that humans are not going to learn any lessons until, quite literally, disaster strikes… and sadly not even then. Maybe because what’s coming is impossible to fathom, or maybe because it’s so big that individuals just feel helpless.
Maybe it’s because of hubris, or because short-term gains have always outweighed long-term risks. After all, why worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow when you can make a buck now?
Speaking of money, though, nature also does not care about the size of your bank account.
We are seeing this in California now. Those flames will take your home no matter how rich you are, or whether you are a wealthy right-wing tech bro or a wealthy left-wing actor.
And just wait and see what happens when severe conditions will spark conflicts over increasingly sparse resources.
All of this is just around the corner.
Nature is the big equalizer.
And, in one way or another, it’s coming for us all.
