Photo: Active bluff failures (sea bluff erosion) at Fletcher Cove, Solana Beach, California, USA, by Stickpen, Wikimedia
Coffee shop conversation with OG old timers was full of beach talk. It’s normal for the sand to be stripped away this time of year, we all know the cobble season well. King tides have become a part of our lexicon too. What’s not normal is the consistent and constant battering the coastline has received. Once popular surf and gathering spots no longer exist. Hgh tide is breaking onto roadsides and parking lots instead. We talked about the big storm of 93 that caused the San Luis Rey River to surge, created sink holes and stranded many a family. Then the flurry of fear fires caused in 2004, 2007, 2014, 2017 etc. Weather creating life changing circumstances for community is normal. But the space between disaster and safety seems to narrow significantly as time passes. The tone of it all is no longer fear. We’ll get through it. We’ll figure it out somehow. But what if we didn’t have to just get through it? What if there were options outside of just waiting out cobble season with the hope that next summer things are better?
Social media videos of iconic San Diego landscapes collapsing were everywhere in the height of Tropical storm Rachel and the heat wave that served as its prelude. What caught my eye was not just the power of nature, but the apathy of the video commenters. “It’s normal” was a common phrase or “it happens every year”. To those of us who have watched the landscape of this county change, it feels like a slap.
Photo: Beach and bluff erosion in Pacifica, CA encroaches on house in top of photo, by Brocken Inaglory, Wikimedia
None of this feels normal. But like those who are quick to dismiss racial injustice at the hands of the very institutions created to perpetuate it; we know what the truth is. “That’s terrible but It happens all the time” is code for, “I can’t afford to acknowledge the truth. The weight of the shame and fear is more than I can handle.” It’s not too different for climate change. The weight of guilt and fear are heavy, but once worn, it’s easier to see the truth of how much of that weight does not land on the actions of community. Once we see how much we don’t own, then maybe we can accurately assess making those most responsible pay their fair share. If only more weren’t afraid to face their own shame.
We might want to normalize abnormal weather phenomena to pacify ourselves. But we shouldn’t normalize a bunch of folks too far removed from reality, making biased decisions about how we live. They tell us that we don’t have the right to water, clean or otherwise. They argue whether we have the right to clean air and safe homes. They argue that nobody has the right to outlaw practices that destroy our health and the wellbeing of the only planet you and I will ever know. All the while we can’t even decide if what’s happening has happened before. It feels like madness. Your single voice probably doesn’t feel like much more than a whisper in the gale of special interests and thats ok. You don’t always need to be louder or taller or more visible. Instead pick up your ballot and vote for those poised to speak louder. Vote for those who already echo your sentiments. Use your voice to add to their storm. I do deserve a better relationship with my planet; a relationship free from the systematic degradation of corporate greed. I deserve to be protected from the devastation they caused, from the corners they cut, the laws they bought, and the lies they told. I deserve protection from the building climate extremes now and in the very near future. I will vote for that. I will vote for preparedness for the upcoming season and preventative measures for the future just out of sight.
If you find yourself watching video after video of flooded streets and massive swells, you too may see too many comments from folks swearing it’s all normal. In real life, you may be find yourself detoured from fragile cliffside roads; maybe your favorite surf spot is also inaccessible now. You can join the debate, feel free to keep arguing with strangers on the internet or you can lend your voice and vote to preserve , prepare and persevere. It’s up to you. VOTE
