Chains Are Reactionary.
Chains are not inherently freedom-robbing. Human chains for peace, against war, or in defence of human rights tend toward the opposite.
A chain of circumstances, on the other hand, usually surprises you with a bad ending. Chains are reactionary — because they work. For good and for ill.
A scorching example of chain reactions are the so-called pyrocumulus clouds. These clouds are a phenomenon of the vast, extreme wildfires in Canada, the United States, and above all in Spain and France. The towering walls of fire have begun generating their own wind. The dynamics of the flames give birth to these very pyrocumulus clouds — clouds that spawn lightning and sow fire. The lightning strikes from these clouds ignite new blazes along the march of destruction.
To date, over 300,000 people have been evacuated from the places they call home. 300,000 people. Every single digit of that number is a house someone no longer walks into. Catastrophic fires have always existed, as history shows. But they were mostly local in their fury and belonged to the ordinary cycle of things. Today that has changed. The fires are now travelling the globe — and often burning simultaneously.
Climate change? Or already climate catastrophe?
Who invented this?
There are, as always, various causes to explain a development. Rural depopulation in Spain and Portugal leaves behind neglected, fire-prone landscapes. A feast for every fire source. Monocultures are economically attractive but ecologically fire-dangerous. When resources like land and water are exploited to the maximum, the consequences are waiting for their starting pistol.
Winter in parts of Europe was very wet and triggered a growth orgy of biomass — the plant world in full excess. Then spring came along as the party-wrecker and left everything that had grown to wither. The ravenous fires caught wind of this and set off on their journey into the new dry zones.
And just like that, the buffet of wildfires is served.
Fortunately, the political class is wide awake and actively working on new concepts. Across party lines and national borders, politicians are collaborating with scientists, engineers, environmental experts, and climate researchers to plan and test promising alternative systems. A worldwide coming-together against runaway climate change is reassuring and hopeful for the family of the world’s population.
Oops — wrong script. Sorry.
It is remarkable to watch how the fossil fuel industry, through its lobbyists, fights against exactly these kinds of joint projects. There are hardly any good reasons why coal and gas should be used any longer. Countries that have long been running on nearly one hundred percent renewables exist. No theory — practice.
A dystopia for coming generations — yes. But what frightens me more: politicians who still don’t wake up when they hear “saving money.” Why don’t politicians snap to attention the moment they hear the words “could save money”? Whoever invests now in systems of renewable and far cheaper energy production will need to spend less on the damage later. And as a side effect, save thousands of human lives.
Not lucrative enough?
Come on!
