It is sadly more than coincidence that my last blog dealt enthusiastically with a town in Spain that has now become part of the recent devastation in that region as a result of apocalyptic rains and flash flooding.

  Reports of inundating flooding with almost no warning and as much rainfall in eight hours as falls in an entire year (20 inches) now adds a new wrinkle to travel planning: when and where to go while avoiding cataclysmic weather events driven by climate change.

 “Sure, you can argue that if things ever started to get that serious, we would certainly embark on dramatic remediation plans to prevent us from reaching that point. But that’s exactly where we are now. “

  We were in Nerja just a month ago. We were taking a train from Barcelona to Paris for our flight home only a week ago. Have we been lucky or are we just rolling increasingly loaded dice every time we list ourselves on a flight to Europe?

  We already frame our travels around off seasons to avoid the tourist hordes. But these are also times of year when weather becomes volatile. We’re still going to go of course. But do we now need to bake into our plans such things as emergency kits and possible evacuation routes?

 

And it’s not about a sudden, unexpected weather event overtaking your vacation plans. It’s now about the frequency of those events increasing the odds you’ll be caught in one on one of your future trips.

  And here’s where a guilt factor might also figure in. You can bet there were hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists in the hardest hit areas of Spain in these recent storms. They have simply added to the stresses of emergency services and government agencies to provide rescue and relief, while not even being residents. We’re in the way, in other words, just by our mere presence. While residents are frantic for basic services to be restored, tourists are wondering when the cafes, restaurants and museums are going to open again.

 
I’m not advocating we stop traveling. I am saying that climate change is real and we’re now in the initial phases of it fundamentally changing the way humans live their lives. And that the more we try to ignore it, the faster the calamitous effects of it will impact us. 

  I once thought of a short story about a permanent flood in New Orleans that reached the third floor of every structure in the city that had one. In the story, residents routinely climbed out of their third story window and into their pirogues to go about the routines of their day. 

 

I never wrote it, because it would come off as alarmist dystopia before it happened and mundane reality afterwards. My point is we will find a way to adapt to new and ever increasing difficulties right up to the moment there are no adaptations left.

  Sure, you can argue that if things ever started to get that serious, we would certainly embark on dramatic remediation plans to prevent us from reaching that point. But that’s exactly where we are now. Do you see any dramatic remediation plans underway?

  Neither do I. I’m only one month removed  from being stuck in a mud-filled town wondering when the cafes, restaurants and museums are going to open again. After all, I’m just a tourist trying to have a good time.

  I hate to say it, but I think we’re doomed.