The Earth is Not a Lab

Climate change, and humanity’s lack of preparation for it, is akin to the explosive release of energy when matter and antimatter meet. Though vital to the fabric of our universe, antimatter is volatile. When volatile forces meet inadequate systems, the result is disaster. Flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowfalls, and wildfires are growing in intensity and frequency. When governments fail to adequately plan for these events, communities are left to fill in the gaps.

A storm comes to Nova Scotia

The most relevant concern for Atlantic Canada is hurricanes. These storms crash into communities and ecosystems, tearing apart coastlines, displacing families, and costing millions. While we have been lucky in recent years to avoid a direct hit, their effects are felt each hurricane season through disrupted ocean conditions and accelerated coastal erosion. There are between six to ten hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean each year from May to November. Three to five of these have the potential to become major hurricanes – any of which could make landfall. There is a dangerous misconception that these storms are rare.

When governments rely on this false assumption, there is a human cost.

A recent example of those costs was Hurricane Fiona. Called a “once-in-a-hundred-year-storm,” it struck Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia in September 2022. Yet, the problems it exposed – weak power grids, inaccessible fuel, and limited financial support for recovery – are anything but rare.

Barriers to protection

Many residents face barriers to house insurance, particularly those in flood zones and those living in century-old company houses. Company houses were built mostly in 1913 to house miners’ families. They are now a regular part of the housing market and often lack the structural requirements to qualify for insurance coverage unless renovated. For lower income individuals and seniors who cannot afford such upgrades, recovery has been slow or impossible. Some still have plywood over their windows and patched roofing three years later.

Preventative measures as the Earth changes

One potential preventative measure is the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This framework outlines targets and principles to prevent and reduce disaster risk and vulnerability. It calls on states to strengthen preparedness through economic, legal, health, cultural, environmental, political and institutional measures. Among the principles too often neglected are:

1. Full engagement of all State institutions of an executive and legislative nature at national and local levels;

2. “Build Back Better” for preventing the creation of, and reducing existing, disaster risk; and

3. Coherence of disaster risk reduction and sustainable development policies, plans, practices an mechanisms, across different sectors.

With these principles upheld, communities would not endure weeks-long power outages. Seniors would not face plywood-window winters. Supports would not be missing for those ineligible for insurance.

When systems fail, communities step up. Strangers open their homes. Neighbours feed neighbours. The trauma forges resilience and unity. While the strength of community is remarkable, it has limits.

Just as the antimatter we create must be contained in a lab to prevent destruction, we must contain the forces of climate change through strong governance, proactive adaptation, and international cooperation. The Earth is not a lab. We cannot afford unplanned reactions.