Only weeks ago, Ashville, North Carolina, was considered a haven for people wishing to escape the impacts of climate change, a “safe place” to live as our world steadily warms and increasingly extreme weather events wreak more and more havoc across the Earth. No longer is that true. Hurricane Helene devasted Ashville and surrounding communities in North Carolina’s mountainous western region.
What has happened in the Ashville region should be yet another wake-up call for us humans and our so-called leaders. But will this one actually result in any substantial change? Not likely. Our species largely seems to remain in a state of denial, or at least inertia, despite the many signs that the climate crisis has arrived, from record heat waves — including here in Alaska — to historically unprecedented wildfires, storm systems, flooding, sea-level rise, on and on.
We Alaskans — and, in particular, our politicians — seem largely unconcerned, despite great changes in our state, particularly the Arctic region, with the immense loss of sea ice and now melting permafrost, heat waves, and the increased impacts of coastal storms and resulting erosion that are forcing a number of communities to relocate to safer places, at immense costs (both financially and culturally).
We who live in Anchorage might believe we inhabit a safe haven, but increased temperatures and the possibility of drought conditions also mean increased fire dangers. We’ve been warned for years that the Hillside, in particular, is vulnerable to a catastrophic wildfire, but not enough has been done to prepare for that.
Despite all that’s known, most of our state’s leaders still emphasize the desire — and they would argue, the “need” — to continue, and even increase, oil and gas development and production in Alaska, despite the obvious links to the climate crisis and associated disasters. Our collective actions are not only disgraceful but a growing danger. Yes, the wild Earth will survive and adapt, but we humans are making large parts of our world uninhabitable for both our species and many others. And ain’t that a shame?
— Bill Sherwonit
Anchorage
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