Appalachia and the Myth of the Climate Haven
The catastrophic damage wrought by Hurricane Helene has put the lie to the idea that any area, no matter how remote and seemingly out of time, is safe from climate change.
The last week has been a rough one for Southern Appalachia. After Hurricane Helene dumped enormous amounts of rain in states such as North and South Carolina the area was devastated by mudslides and flooding. Cities like Asheville and many smaller communities are still grappling with the destruction, and it remains to be seen just how significant the loss of life will be. What is clear is that it is going to take a very long time to repair, and it’s likely that some communities will never be the same, if they are even able to be rebuilt.
Appalachia is, of course, no stranger to natural disasters of various kinds. The ruthless extraction of coal and other natural resources has long made it susceptible to events like small earthquakes and mudslides, and wildfires are not unknown. Just this year many parts of it — including West Virginia — have experienced a particularly bad drought. However, this brutal environmental catastrophe seems to have come as a surprise to many, given that many of the locations that were hardest hit are not located in what we would usually…
