Ailing coral reefs matter

The Artdog  Quote-Pairing of the Week 

If we're not worried about the world's ailing coral reefs, we're fooling ourselves. Coral reefs are not only vital to our oceans, but there are important things we can do to help them.

I kicked off last month with a video about climate change refugees. It featured a call to proactive action. This month, I'm pairing quotes about being proactive in one's life with quotes about climate change. It's not too late to mitigate the effects--including helping bring our world's ailing coral reefs back to health.

Let's do what matters--and coral reefs matter. We must act now.

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Quotabulary's "Quotes about being proactive" page and Buzzle for the illustrated quote from Leo Babauta, and to The World Counts for  the informational image about the decline of the world's coral reefs.

Opportunity now, crisis later. How will we choose?

The Artdog Video of Interest

This week's Video of Interest kicks off a theme I want to explore this month: migration sparked by climate change. This is one of the most recent short videos on the subject that I could find, and I especially appreciate its approach.

Sponsored by the World Bank, it frames what many see as a problem differently. Countries can take steps now, the video argues, to turn it from a looming crisis to an opportunity.



What are the steps? The first one's kind of a given: cut greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible to mitigate the effects of climate change. All of us should be doing more toward that goal, individually and in our communities, organizations, and institutions.

The second step should also be an "of course we should" idea, but I rarely see it in my country, where too many powerful elites have too much investment in denying climate change or the need to do anything about it. This step says we should acknowledge that climate migration will naturally happen. Then use that knowledge to plan ahead for when it does. Unfortunately for the USA, some places have banned government officials from even using the words.

The third step also would be hard to do in any state that bans even so much as using the vocabulary. It calls for investing to improve data collection, so more accurate predictions are possible. This is simple common sense, but as many have noted, common sense is not so common. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen in much the USA anytime soon, either.

VIDEO CREDIT: Many thanks to the World Bank for its hope-inspiring video on this topic.

Prepared

The Monday-morning quarterbacking has begun: even before it stops raining, people are second-guessing whether Houston and other Harvey-hit parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast were "prepared."



Exactly how does one prepare for such an event?

It's harder in some places than others. Houston is a sprawling metropolis of 6.5 million people, lying no more than 125 feet above sea level, with an extensive network of bayous all through it and untold acres of impermeable pavement to concentrate the runoff. As I write this, the rain is slowing down, but Harvey is easily the wettest storm on record in the Lower 48.

Exactly 12 years ago: Hurricane Katrina flooded the I-10/I-610 interchange in northwest New Orleans and Metairie, LA. (Wikimedia/AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Niemi)

I'm sure I can't be the only person who's been getting an uneasy feeling of "déjà vu all over again" (thanks, Yogi!) when listening to or reading about Harvey's devastation. We heard the same basic stories of inadequate infrastructure, inadequate shelter facilities, stretched-thin rescue services, and unequal impacts to richer and poorer communities (I'll give you one guess who's getting hit worse) during and after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and Hurricane Sandy in New York/New Jersey.

A washed-out bridge, and then some: Mantoloking, NJ, October 31, 2012, after Hurricane Sandy. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

CAN a city prepare adequately? While it's politically difficult to justify expensive improvements to infrastructure or seemingly-needless restrictions on development in floodplains when conditions are calm, it is true that many cities could and should do more. For an idea about some of the ways to prepare, here's a checklist for municipal planners, from the EPA (grab it while they're still allowed to mention the words "climate change"!).

Massive storms, floods, droughts, fires, and other disasters may be touted in the headlines as 100-year, 50-year, or even 1,000-year events. But seriously: How many years in a row can we have "100-year" events before it begins to dawn on even the slowest among us that things are changing?

It turns out that it actually is possible to plan, build, and prepare for even rather extreme disasters, but it takes forethought. It takes community acceptance that it's necessary.

It takes keeping our weather satellites in place. It takes governing officials who acknowledge the realities of our situation, and can't be subverted by special interests who'd rather take a short-sighted opportunity to make a buck, or by those who think all regulations are bad.

To any who, like Grover Norquist, want to make government small enough to drown it in a bathtub, I'd like to remind you that it's harder to make the case for that, when your bathtub's been washed away in the latest "100-year" flood. Of course, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on this year's budget-cutting list. So maybe you should just kiss that bathtub goodbye.

IMAGES: I first found the YouTube video of interspersed "before" and "flooded" views of the Buffalo Bayou in Houston on BoingBoing (the article compiles several more before-and-after images that are quite startling). According to streetreporter, who posted it on YouTube, "The still images are from unknown people shared by a French twitter user. I only made the dissolve to show perspective, which is transformative."
Many thanks to Wikimedia, for the 2005 photo of the Hurricane Katrina flooding at the I-10/I-610 interchange in northwest New Orleans and Metairie, LA, an AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Niemi. Equal thanks go to Slate and Mario Tama of Getty Images for the photo from Hurricane Sandy.
I also thank Abode Home Group's "Restoration" page for the Fire/Flood/Storm composite image.

Into the storm

The Artdog Images of Interest

Three major signals of climate change's onset are increased rates and ferocity of fires, deepening drought, and increasingly violent storms. Today's image focuses on storms.

First, a little "storm porn," because dramatic, high-contrast clouds plus lightning and panoramic skies make for jaw-dropping storm photos. Here's a mini-portfolio from American storm-chaser Mike Mezeul II:

Thunderstorm outside Cheyenne, WY by Mike Mezeul II

Thunderstorm over Big Spring TX - Mike Mezeul II

Thunderstorm with internal lightning over Graham, TX, by Mike Mazeul II

I could look at these all day, but a little reminder may be in order that gorgeous clouds can contain devastating downpours, tornadoes, and/or hurricanes that can do millions of dollars' worth of damages in just a short time. Havoc such as that shown in these photos:

This is what we denizens of Tornado Alley call "a real toad-strangler." This storm hit the San Fernando Valley in February 2017.

The website didn't give a location or date for this photo, but I hope that truck had water wings!

Stormy surf at Porthcawl Harbor, South Wales, in 2014. (photo: PA/Mirror)

A man in Northern Ireland excavates his sheep from a snowdrift in 2014. 

Dramatic flooding resulted in 2015 from Tropical Storm Etau in Japan.

2016 flooding and mudslides in Victory, WI made for some arduous cleanup afterwards.

As the EPA is still so far able to say on its website, "Extreme weather is typically rare. But climate change is increasing the odds of more extreme weather events taking place." 

One thing's clear: we'd better batten down the hatches--and make sure we have an emergency plan. Unfortunately, we never know when we'll be caught up in the next disaster.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Mike Mezeul II and The Daily Mail for the gorgeous "storm porn" series at the top. I also am grateful to Climate 101 with Jason, for the San Fernando Valley storm photo by David McNew/Getty Images, to Insurance Advocate for the hurricane-swamping-the-road photo with the pickup truck, to the Mirror for the stormy surf South Welsh photo from 2014, and to the BBC for the photo of the Northern Irishman excavating his sheep from a snowdrift the same year. Many thanks to Young Independent for the Tropical Storm Etau image, and to WXOW Channel 19 of LaCrosse, WI for the mudslide photo.

Tribulation

The Artdog Quote of the Week:

Does anybody else miss President Barack Obama the way I do? As usual, he's making good sense, here. Also as usual, a lot of people haven't/aren't/refuse to listen. Gonna be a squeaker, if it isn't already too late, I fear.

IMAGE: Many thanks to TodayInSci for this image.