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How has climate change affected your life / plans?
Particularly interested if it has already impacted your life, or scrapped any plans or influenced where you decided to live.
Anybody else chose their current/ next home because of lower natural disasters risk or climate change resilience?
I'm in the midwest and I have asthma. I've shifted from running outdoors to indoors on a treadmill due to the wildfires and air quality issues that come with it. It's disappointing since so many gains have been made in air quality since the 80s which has really improved my life.
I've been living in Colorado ski towns my whole adult life. Anecdotally, I've noticed two big things
I love skiing, but I've been considering a move back to the great lakes where I grew up just because it seems like the west is drying out and the midwest/northeast seem like they might do alright with global warming. Duluth and the UP both get nearly as snowy as here, but there's not much good skiing. Upstate NY, northern VT, and northern NH seem like they get decent snow off Ontario, and the skiing isn't great but they do have some small mountains. Have also thought about going to British Columbia or Alaska, but I think they're facing the same problems as Colorado.
I live in Southern California.
I was born in the area and then right before I started to go to school I moved to Las Vegas so I grew up in a desert. My family would regularly take trips back “home” to see my grandparents and whenever we did I would get upset because to me California was a lush green paradise, especially compared to the endless flat expanses of dirt that is the valley LV is situated in.
Today it’s full of brown, essentially dead brush. And it’s constantly, literally, on fire. The husband and I have literally had to cancel multiple trips because there were no routes to the destination from fire. The greenery can come back to an extent after heavy rain but that’s not too likely to happen. When it does the truly dead brush will still be brown and grey.
The houses I grew up in and around had not been built for air conditioning, and that wasn’t because they were made before it was a thing, but simply because the climate was temperate year-round. Now the years regularly go over 100°F days in summer and even though I am very inland I have become familiar with the marine layer because it reaches all the way over here and makes things extra humid and miserable.
When people talk about the world changing they usually mean the people around them are changing, or maybe the buildings. But my world literally has changed and it’s not going to go back: it’s actively getting worse. The fact that climate change is not the number one thing on everyone’s mind is a sign of just how sick our society is.
Same feeling. Every election cycle it's the dang economy as if worshipping money will save the planet instead of dooming it faster. But, a thought that keeps me somewhat hopeful is that perhaps most people are aware of it, but behaving like someone drowning in debt, gingerly opening letters marked with red ink FINAL NOTICE first, while shuffling the Climate bill to the back of the pile.
I live in the UK.
Im late 20's and remember a distinct transition between the seasons as a kid, whereas now it very much feels like a potluck draw as to what the weather is going to be like, with seasons appearing to blur together. We didnt need AC during the summer; light clothing was fine usually, and light bedsheets were enough at night. It wasnt bitingly cold or disruptively snowy in the winters; a nice coat and boots were enough for the hour of snow we had each year.
Now, living on my own, i dont bother cycling my clothes in my wardrobe out depending on the seasons because all weather is a possibility; I'm renovating with a priority on AC installation and temperature retention in the home, with window upgrades, reflective blinds, thermal curtains, etc; if i move in future I'll be taking into account the homes ability to accommodate renewables and AC, and they'll be the first things i install once settled in. It seems very short sighted to not even consider the weather and how it affects us nowadays, but I know its a British stereotype to enjoy a good moan and I'm no exception to that rule. I'd just like to complain about something worthwhile!
I'm in France and my birding season in June was a hot pile of garbage. I'm also nearing menopause way too early at 40 and the hot flashes + the stupidly high temperatures means I have been living in literal hell. It makes going outside even more complicated.
It's been devastating to see the impact on nature. One of the forests I visit frequently suffered from a huge forest fire. I volunteer at a wildlife shelter (also something I've struggled to do this summer because of said heat and hot flashes) and every year the number if animala admitted keeps going up. At one point there were over 100 animals admitted per day. And this was -before- the forest fire.
A small note of hope, it's been heartening seeing the number of people volunteer to help out after the forest fire. Thousands of people expressed interedt in helping. We're still not allowed to go to the affected areas and search for injured wildlife but so many people have provided support whether through equipment, transportation, time, etc.
That's heartbreaking to hear of 100+ animals a day admitted, and not even when it's on fire.
I wonder, is it possible to teach basic wildlife first aid? I live in a very remote area that would take me hours to drive an injured animal to rescue
I have a good guide in French on what to do when you find a wild animal which I can post here in a separate post (might take me a couple of days to get it translated). It's not first aid though, just a guide on what scenarios you might face, what to do in each case to get them secured to bring to a rehabber. Tha doesn't necessarily mean transporting them immediately.
My first suggestion when you find a wild animal in distress is to contact a rehabber/rescue (or f there isn't one, a vet can work in a pinch) and get their advice. They'll be best placed to explain any first aid you can give as it's largely dependent on the species. Laws will also differ from place to place. Here for example you can't keep a wild animal (unless it's invasive) at your place for more than 48h, and it should always be with the intent to pass it onto a rehab or a rescue centre, or someone licensed to treat certain species. This is as much for your safety as it is for the animal's. Some rehabs will try to accommodate for the distance and drive halfway to meet you or see if they can arrange for someone nearby to come pick the animal up.
Mildly, I guess? I feel like I'm in this weird state of mind where I can't tell if winters are shorter/weaker because of global warming or if all of my childhood / teen memories of very snowy winters are just faulty memory and only remembering the "good" winters. Likewise with summer... has it always been this hot in the summer? I've never been an outdoorsy type, so I genuinely don't know. And have spring/fall always felt so brief?
To be clear I have no doubt that man-made climate change is real, but I can't tell if the impact of that is suddenly becoming greater, or if it's just marginally different and my memory is playing tricks on me.
but as far as impact goes, I don't feel like we've gone outside with the kids as much this summer. It's been in the mid-90s a bit too much for that.
Well we had that little heat dome over Europe a little while ago. We also are experiencing a lot of droughts in the past few years where water utility companies have scrambled to make changes to retain more water during periods with more rain. Historically we tried to get rid of it as fast as possible (Netherlands). Next to droughts we also have issues with extreme rain in short periods (no those don't help with the droughts) causing all sorts of flooding issues in areas that are not prepared for it.
We also haven't had a Elfstedentocht since 1997. Which does need a pretty long period of consistent freezing temperatures. So it never was an annual event, but it would also not be thirty years between them.
Not very much. Probably less likely to live in the bay area than otherwise because it was already always on fire during fall while I was there. Otherwise, I won't travel to central or southern europe during summer months anymore - that level of heat without AC is just miserable.
Not at all really. Though me and my partner have a dream of retiring early in Europe, we won't be picking a place in the very south of Europe as it's already hot enough and will only be getting hotter (Except in the case of Jet Stream collapse which I don't see happening in our lives). Serious climate change is something the current generation of children and their children are going to have to face, not so much the adults of today.
SE United States
More severe storms, less rain, but when it does finally rain it floods.
We lose power more often and for longer periods due to storms, so we have had to prep for that.
We have to irrigate our garden now because we we way less rain than we used to
We are thinking about paving the drive way because the flooding washes the gravel away.
First world problems really
I live in Texas near DFW (the metroplex, not the airport) and I’ve been here since 2010. So far the only thing climate changes has really truly done to this area is include some 120° days that we didn’t used to get. Today, it’s relatively moderate and only 87°F. Yesterday it was 101. When I moved here, we were in a severe drought. We still technically are in drought like conditions, but we also get rainfall constantly; it’s just that the ground can’t absorb it all. I’ve seen the banks of the Trinity River overflow more than I’ve seen the banks not overflowing.
When I first moved here, the Trinity was dry enough that the area constantly smelled like baking river bottom. I haven’t smelled that particular stench in quite some time.
For quite a while, I was considering moving out of here and heading up somewhere northeast like western New York where I have family, or Central Ohio, where I have friends. But seeing the Canadian wildfire smoke that is happening up there I’m not sure that there would be any point.
I was thinking that being near one of the Great Lakes might be great for if water becomes tight, but it looks like the entire planet is just gonna collapse all at once instead of in pieces like I assumed. Might as well stay in Texas, I’m accustomed to the shittiness I’ve been living with for almost two decades.
It's definitely affected how I think about places to move to. The place I'm living now feels a bit more moderate over the past five years but maybe that's just because I've grown used to the weather.
It's probably my dumb brain, but I've been obsessing over how to ensure that the next place I live will be less impactful than average, and resilient against wildfires. City living has been killing me, but since they're efficient at delivering services, I've put a bunch of thought into how to reduce the impact building outside of one has. E.g. keeping embodied energy down, trying to run the potable water system off of harvested rainwater, ensuring that my transport needs are met without hauling a car around, etc.
I don't think I'll ever leave this general area, unless I'm forced out for economic reasons. Doesn't seem right to flee the consequences of humanity's actions (although that's a personal conviction, and not something I expect others to follow); I'd rather stick around and help as much as possible, instead of bailing out when the going gets rough.