Climate Refugees in the future or Now? Don't wait to adapt, do it now and locally!

NASA MODIS image of Hurricane Dorian over the Bahamas - Sept 02, 2019

In the climate change community, people talk about climate refugees in the future from drought, floods, and hazards.  But the events over the last few years..really going back to hurricane Katrina tell us that for many people of color and low-income folks it is occurring.    If you lose everything in a hurricane, family, home and if the community is destroyed how can you be resilient?


https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/with-bodies-still-in-the-streets-bahamians-look-for-a-way-out-of-marsh-harbour/2019/09/06/a040dce1-fb24-476e-989b-8ed8bf476261_video.html


The media covers the immediate timeframe of the storm, but what happens afterward to people and communities.. Do we know????   Do we know how people recover of if they ever recover, economically, mentally, physically or emotionally from these events?  What are the stories of the recovery of communities?

Hurricane Irma destroyed 95% of Barbuda.  Here is a rare story of the conditions 1 year later. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7mwreC5bCg

What is sad about this story, is that China is helping to build Barbuda.  Where is the US??? 

The problem with all of this that politics are aways focused on national interest.  How about doing the right thing?

Please don't take this in the wrong way but to solve a problem, you have to understand the problem.  Many of the people in the Caribbean, South America, and the United States that live on vulnerable Islands or coastlines were externally displaced there through TransAtlantic Slavery.   They were taken to islands or coastal regions that hurricane frequent and worked until they died or until emancipation occurred.

Centers where enslaved people taken from.  https://www.slavevoyages.org/

Routes of enslaved people https://www.slavevoyages.org/

Location of where the enslaved taken to.  https://www.slavevoyages.org/

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_history_of_american_slavery/2015/06/animated_interactive_of_the_history_of_the_atlantic_slave_trade.html


The future does not look promising with hurricanes expected to get stronger because of warming oceans from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.   Many of island and coastal communities provide only small inputs to the global inventory of carbon emissions. 

In order for people to adapt, they will have to empower themselves.  This means that communities should be working collectively on putting resources (food, water., generators, building micro-grids..) aside to deal with these events instead of waiting for aid.  If the government supports this kind of effort, fine, if not a community has resources to help it get through the tough times after a land-falling hurricane.  This works even for under-resourced communities where everyone can contribute to the storage of emergency supplies.  This seems far fetched but could be a solution based on what we are currently observing. 

This type of community building towards adaptation can happen in Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Barbuda, Cape Verde or Flordia.  In addition, there should be an awareness of skillsets that are available for providing mental or physical assistance during the event and for rebuilding structures - carpenters, plumbers, electricians, masonry, roof repair after the event   Of course, you need money to get back on the ground but it certainly helps to know that there are people in your own community that can pull together during the recovery phase.

At some point in near future, communities living in vulnerable zones will have to face the fact that they are not safe from hurricanes that are likely to increase in strength over time, and a rising sea level that will be at least 1 meter higher by 2100 if we don't back significantly on greenhouse gases.  What to do then.. that will require some regional thinking.  This all seems like a science fiction story but it is not because it is playing out now. 

For now, please keep the people of the Bahamas in your thoughts and send what you can to help the people of the Bahamas.  A list of organizations was published by the Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/hurricane-dorian-aid-how-to-donate-to-rescue-relief-and-recovery-in-the-bahamas/2019/09/05/903ba688-cff4-11e9-a620-0a91656d7db6_story.html


What are your thoughts?  Wait for the government?  Save your own family?  Strengthen your community?