Opinion | The eye of the hurricane, spreading like wildfire

On Oct. 25 a hurricane hit the city of Acapulco in Mexico. According to scientists, this is the beginning of a new trend of hurricanes being harder to predict due to global warming. Photo courtesy of Wikicommons

Every time we raise the alarm, we are told we are over dramatic. Every time, we are told that we have more time to fix it. Every time we bring up climate change, we are told that we’re not there yet. 

Well, we are now.

On Oct. 25, the city of Acapulco in Mexico was hit by Hurricane Otis. The hurricane was predicted to landfall as a tropical storm, but it intensified to a Category 5 hurricane overnight, an unprecedented intensity for that part of the country. 

This is not catastrophizing. This is not alarmist. Climate change is here and its consequences are starting to become unpredictable. 

Natural disasters are getting worse. They are leaving behind more damage and more casualties, and the worse part is that they are getting harder to predict. We are seeing a record number of wildfires every year. There has been an increase in floods all over the world. Hurricanes are speeding up faster and in less time due to the warmer ocean water. 

It’s getting more difficult for scientists to accurately predict how bad natural disasters are going to get, despite the improvements in the forecasting methods. The consequence of this is that people find themselves ill prepared when disaster hits. 

This is exactly what happened in Acapulco. While the hurricane would’ve been disastrous in its own right, the fact that people didn’t have time to prepare properly or to evacuate made it worse by a long shot. 

Acapulco was left devastated, with an estimated 100 people dead or missing and billions of dollars in damage, as well as little to no water for days, limited access to food and power coming on and off. Even now, the residents of the city are struggling to recover from the damages, trying to figure out how to rebuild their houses, businesses and community centers and likely will continue to do so for months, if not years.

And sure, you can probably find a lot of fault in how the government is dealing with the aftermath, or how the funds are being distributed, or whatever you can think of to shift the blame from the natural disaster to a failure of the state. But the bottom line is the hurricane should not have accelerated that fast. 

Just like people in New York should’ve been able to breathe clean air outside earlier this year instead of being shrouded in smoke as a result of the wildfires. Or how no one in Lahaina, Hawaii should’ve been chased out of their homes by the fire. Or how the people of Hong Kong and Libya and Greece and Taiwan and Brazil and so many more should not have had to endure their cities being flooded. 

None of these natural disasters should be happening. Not with this intensity. Not with this frequency. This should never be something we get used to. 

But instead of doing something about it, what are we doing? Arresting climate protesters. Criticizing demonstrations that deface art. Fining one of the most recognizable faces of climate action for blocking access to an oil terminal. 

These groups are yelling at you, begging for change. Pleading with you to save the world. And all you can say is that they are not going about it the right way?

We are past the point of going about things “the right way.” If we don’t do something and if we don’t do it soon, it won’t matter if we did things the right or wrong way because it’ll be too late to save the planet. 

We are doing our best to raise the alarm, and the people in power are still not listening. We’ve organized protests, we’ve walked out of school and we’ve had people speak at the United Nations summit… Hell, we even had a group of teenagers in Montana sue their state to get them to do something, anything about climate change.

We’ve been fighting for this our whole lives. I remember being eight and having a crash course on how climate change was killing off hundreds of animal species. It’s been well over a decade since that. How on earth are we still not getting through?

Our generation didn’t want to inherit this problem, but we took it up. We organized, we protested and we founded organizations, but it’s not enough. And the longer we wait, the more difficult it’s going to get. It’s not even a matter of time anymore. Hurricanes will be more and more like Otis. Wildfires will be more and more devastating, and floodings more and more prevalent. 

We are already in crisis, and it’s just going to get worse. And the heart of the matter is that we can’t do this ourselves. We need everyone's help on this. 

I am pleading with you. Open your eyes. Look around. See what’s happening in the world. And do something about it. We are quite literally in the last stretch before irreversible damage. 

If you’re still lucky enough to be in the calm before the storm, be careful. If you’re in the eye of the hurricane, don’t lower your guard. Climate change is here, and it won’t spare anyone.