What’s in your go-bag?

On Monday, November 15, 2021 my debut novel, Spindrifts—a book that envisions life fifty years from now when climate change has mostly been addressed—was published. It was a very exciting day for me. And then I read a cousin’s post on Facebook. She lives in Victoria B.C. and was highlighting the catastrophic and unprecedented flooding that parts of B.C. were experiencing that same day.

The juxtaposition of my book release and another horrific example of climate crisis—flooding following on the summer’s wildfires in that province—brings home in a startling and stark way to Canadians what other parts of our planet, and indeed First Nations and farmers on these lands have been sounding the alarm for many years: wildfires, droughts, food insecurity, contaminated water, and evacuations are caused by our actions.

I cannot help wondering what it will finally take to motivate humans to make concrete changes at the individual, community, government, and international levels now, before it is too late.

Abbostsford, BC, after the flood. (Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies)

​In Spindrifts people came together all over the planet to heal Earth after two international crises. It required changes in values from competition to collaboration, from hierarchy to team work, from conflict to a unified world indefatigably focused solely on resolving the climate emergency of our times now. I imagined a world fifty years from 2020 that overcame racism, understanding and expecting every person on earth had a contribution to make to heal our planet. Fifty years from now in an imagined world, decades of attention to the earth project reaped enormous gains in healing the planet, with more work still left to do.

Just imagine what we all could accomplish together if we were to turn our attention to resolving climate change as our primary priority. Pause here to consider what shifts in our thinking and ways of living would follow from this. And think of what you can already contribute right now.
COP26 Glasgow ended recently, but the proposed timelines and commitments are slow and insufficient in relation to our urgent realities: unified action is needed now, not five, ten, thirty years from now. Our priorities internationally need to shift, and our values and commitment to humanity’s survival mean moving away from our current ways and our value conflicts.

Spindrifts is inspired by young climate strikers from all over the world. They understand the urgency of taking action and the responsibility of social and political leaders to lead the way. Youths point out that they will carry the heavy burden if we fail to take action now, and we all have a responsibility to them as well as future generations.
 
Without immediate action we will continue to lurch from one catastrophe to another as if these are isolated incidents. This leads me to wonder: How prepared are you for an emergency evacuation? What’s in your go-bag?