Climate Change Is Not the Apocalypse
Nothing is more human than looking forward to Judgement Day.
Humans have been worrying about the apocalypse for as long as there have been humans. Recently, I have followed in their footsteps.
Judgement Day in its various forms permeates Judeo-Christian’s, as well as Islamic, Norse, Hindu, and countless other faiths. These have their modern equivalents in Y2K, the prepper movement, the People’s Temple ‘Drink the Kool-Aid’ murders, and, more abstractly, in the zombie/alien/war apocalypse movie genre.
What is it about apocalyptic thinking that is so alluring? And what happens when our discourse around climate change starts to resemble it?
Why We Love the Apocalypse
In almost all accounts of it, the apocalypse connotes three things:
- Destruction of imperfect human life
- Divine revelation
- Rebirth of the world
Arguably, none of these things are undesirable if you are a true believer. Destruction, though morbid, is necessary if God(s) deems it so.
All people throughout human history would describe human society as corrupt, debauched, and ignorant — whether you live today or in the 13th century.
And there are two things that we want most in this world: to know and to start anew. Divine revelation and rebirth.
Climate Change Is a Secular Apocalypse
Our discourse around climate change has gone from nil to everywhere. In 2021 alone:
- China and Germany have experienced massive, unprecedented flooding.
- The West Coast of the U.S.’s unprecedented drought may actually be the new normal.
- The West Coast is on track to exceed 2020’s historic fires with potentially the worst fire season on record.
- West Coast reservoir and Colorado River levels are at all-time lows.
- New York City has had its second-wettest year on record and subway flooding.
- Louisiana has, again, been hit with a massive hurricane, leaving New Orleans without power for days.
The Slow End of the World
Though catastrophic fires, floods, and hurricanes are becoming more common, climate change’s real insidious danger lies in how it’ll force billions of people globally to relocate.
Though the Southwest is the U.S.’s fastest-growing region, temperatures and drought suggest that the children of anyone who moves there will be forced northward.
America’s coastal population centers will contend with rising seas. With more coastline than Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Miami combined, New York City, is unsalvageable if the ocean continues to rise at its current pace.
All these realities point toward one thing: the apocalypse.
Apocalyptic Thinking Rids You of Agency
Thinking of the climate change-caused end of the world as something that will happen quickly is alluring because it denies you agency.
If a climate-changed world is impending, you don’t have to adopt more sustainable habits or move to a climate-safe place.
For most Americans, the descent into climate chaos will not come with the force of a hurricane but the slow deterioration of our lifestyles.
On the West Coast, days will be hotter, water will be rationed, and, as a result of rising heat and diminishing resources, economic output will slow. Similarly, the South will experience more storms, flooding, and hotter temperatures as the ideal climate niche for human life shifts north.
The gradual descent into regional poverty and chaos, which will ultimately lead to climate migration, is less sexy than the apocalypse.
It also means that it’s time to move.
The Other Side of the Coin: Climate Apocalypse as Chance for Rebirth
On the other side of the coin are the preppers and those who not-so-secretly relish the end of days. Like religious zealots of the past, the climate apocalypse means the chance of rebirth and the vindication of being right.
On the worst of days, I find myself in this camp.
Just like the fatalists, climate preppers hope that climate-caused chaos will happen quickly. Just like the fatalists, we’re wrong.
The Slow End of Our World, but Not The World
Despite humanity’s hopes, the rebirth of civilizations has always been a slow and messy process.
America will be reshaped by climate change as people move northward and inward toward wetter, colder, and higher regions. But this migration won’t happen soon or all at once.
The good news is that the climate has changed drastically before and people have migrated. The bad news is that, despite this history, we will continue to spend money to ‘save’ places that are increasingly uninhabitable.
Our world is reshaping, but it won’t perish in a cathartic ball of fire. Humanity with all of its flaws, will persist, as always, without divine revelation.
Thank you for reading.
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