Blind to the Apocalypse: The Climate Emergency has Fallen Off the Radar

I'm sharing these images from Southern Brazil to place the planetary crisis front and center.

People are rescued after floods in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, on May 5. Photo: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters.

What is coming isn’t coming anymore. It is all over.

The election, the erosion of democracy, and the horrific situation in Gaza—all fully deserve attention and action. But where is the urgency about the climate crisis and the treatment of each catastrophe as more than a one-off?

The latest and most notable cataclysm struck southern Brazil's state of Rio Grande do Sul, with some areas receiving almost 2 feet of rain in less than a week, the record deluge submerging parts of the capital Porto Alegre, killing at least 126 people and wreaking havoc on its 1.5 million inhabitants. As of May 11, over 400,000 were displaced, and 141 were missing, with an estimated $3.7 billion in damages.

Climate disasters are now as certain as death and taxes—accelerating both. The emergency is even more mind-boggling with the new, alarming consensus that the world will not only blow past the 1.5°C temperature red line, but most scientists anticipate at least a 2.5°C jump, with half predicting a rise of 3°C.

Via The Guardian.

I’m sharing these images as an appeal to treat the crisis as existential (and to retire the unreal allusions).

It Could Be Any Coastal City

A drone shows a flooded city center after people were evacuated in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, on May 5. Photo: Renan Mattos/Reuters.

Here’s looking at New York, Miami, Atlantic City, Charleston, Savannah, Corpus Christi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Dhaka.

Life As We Knew It

A view of the flooded Porto Alegre Public Market in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, May 4. Photo: Renan Mattos/Reuters.

A trip to the market.

Aerial view of flooded streets during a rescue operation in the Sarandi neighborhood on May 5, 2024. Photo: Florian Plaucheur / AFP / Getty.

A day at the amusement park.

A drone view shows a flooded city center after people were evacuated in Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, May 5. Photo: Renan Mattos/Reuters. A drone view shows vehicles in the area affected by the floods, in Encantado, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, May 3. Photo: Diego Vara/Reuters.

Heading across town.

Game Over

A view of the flooded Beira-Rio stadium, home of the Sport Club Internacional in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, May 7. Photo: Diego Vara/Reuters.

There is no match for this adversary.

The Social Fabric

May 3 | Porto Alegre, Brazil. People and their pets are rescued from the flooding. Photo: Renan Mattos/ Epa-Efe/Shutterstock.

All of Southern Brazil’s terror in one dog’s eyes.

Locals tried to beat two men, arrested by the police, who were allegedly robbing houses following flooding due to heavy rains in the Sarandi neighborhood of Porto Alegre on May 6, 2024. Photo: Nelson Almeida / AFP / Getty.

No climate justice, no peace.

Fossil Fuel Legacy

May 5 | Porto Alegre, Brazil. Volunteers provide food, medical attention, and clothing to people rescued from flooded houses at a gas station that is used as a meeting point. Photo: Carlos Fabal / AFP / Getty.

Irony of ironies, the gas station as relief center and meeting point?

It almost looks like they are praying to the pump.

Smoke rises after an explosion at a flooded petrol station in Porto Alegre on May 4, 2024. Carlos Fabal / AFP / Getty

…Just stay clear of the ones that blow up.

Freedom’s Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose

A drone view shows an area affected by the floods in Lajeado, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, May 3. Replicas of the Statue of Liberty appear in front of many Havan department stores as a symbol of the company. Photo: Jeff Botega/Agencia RBS.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

It’s not New York Harbor, but it could be. In the name of climate migrants and tempests, this could stand some revision.

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