Talking about climate change #14
After the storm (5 minute read)
Welcome to The Turnstone. Here, I help people understand important issues such as Covid-19, climate change and conservation. I send my articles out every Sunday - if you’d like them emailed to you directly, you can sign up to my mailing list.
While I was taking my first breath
she was watching the storm roll in,
lining the house with an army of sandbags...
Taylor Edmonds
This week, it’s impossible for me to ignore the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle. Just over two weeks after the unprecedented Auckland floods, New Zealand was hit by a disaster on a much wider scale. Most of the North Island has been affected, and it is clear that in some areas life won’t be returning to normal for months. Recovery could take years, and, tragically, for some families life will never be the same.
It’s natural that people are asking if this is climate change. For those of us who are less affected, it might feel like the perfect time to have that conversation. However, it’s important to be open to conversations which are about more than just the science. At a time like this, feelings of anxiety and grief over climate change may be intensified. And it’s important to remember that people have lost their lives, livelihoods and homes. Our ability to connect and empathise is crucial – now more than ever.
So, this week I am sharing resources to help our conversations in the wake of this disaster. The first resources are focused on supporting each other, before I move to resources which explain about the science.
Looking after yourself and other adults
The following guide, from the Red Cross, gives a good overview of caring for mental health during a disaster.
EmotionalHealth.pdf (redcross.org) (3 minute read)
This fact sheet from the USA explains some common reactions to disasters, and some examples of things to do to help with coping.
Tips for Adults after Disasters (va.gov) (7 minute read)
This article, also from the USA, has some great advice on how to support people who have been through a disaster, not just in terms of mental health but also practical help.
How to Help Someone Grieving After a Natural Disaster (nextavenue.org) (7 minute read)
If you prefer your information in audio, here’s a podcast episode from Australia about talking to people after a disaster. There are also some other episodes about disaster recovery which you may find useful, such as an episode on post-traumatic growth.
Ep 9 | How to Talk to Someone After a Disaster - ABC Radio (10 minute audio)
Supporting children and young people
The following website, which was set up after the Christchurch earthquakes, has some good basic information for supporting children and young people. There are also other good resources to support mental health for people dealing with the aftermath of disasters.
Supporting kids after scary events | All Right? (2 minute read, 3 minute video)
The following information comes from the USA Centres for Disease Control. It goes into more detail on how children and young people may be affected and how you can support them.
Helping Children Cope with Emergencies | CDC
The following information comes from Australia and is aimed at teenagers. Although some of the information is specific to Australia, there are some useful details that aren’t covered on the other sites.
How To Cope With The Stress of Natural Disasters | headspace (8 minute read)
Specific resources for climate change grief and anxiety
The resources above don’t specifically address climate change, so I have linked to some resources I shared previously about climate change and mental health.
Talking about climate change #8 - by Melanie Newfield (substack.com) (4 minute read)
For in-depth resources, I’ve linked to two resources from Australia. The first is a booklet about coping with climate change. The second is a presentation from Australian psychologist Bronwyn Gresham.
Coping with climate change booklet (psychology.org.au) (11 minute read)
Emotional health and our response to a changing climate (12 minute video)
The role of climate change in our recent weather disasters
It’s clear from what I’m hearing in the media that people are making the connection between Cyclone Gabrielle, Auckland’s floods and climate change. But what is the evidence saying?
The short answer is that it can take time to really know how much a particular disaster is due to climate change and how much is the result of the usual climatic fluctuations.
One crucial point is that we are currently experiencing La Niña conditions. La Niña contributes to warm ocean temperatures around New Zealand, and warm ocean temperatures fuel tropical cyclones. So, La Niña is a factor in Cyclone Gabrielle. Unfortunately, it’s not yet clear what impact climate change is likely to have on La Niña and El Niño weather cycles.
I wrote about La Niña and El Niño a couple of years ago if you are looking for an explanation of the phenomenon.
Fickle winds - by Melanie Newfield - The Turnstone (substack.com) (7 minute read)
New Zealand’s Science Media Centre has statements from three experts about the contribution of climate change to Cyclone Gabrielle and to what we can expect from tropical cyclones in the future. Each expert has something slightly different to say – they aren’t contradicting each other but looking at different aspects of the situation. The experts make the point that although we don’t yet know how much climate change contributed to Cyclone Gabrielle, climate change does mean more intense tropical cyclones, and in particular, more rainfall during tropical cyclones.
What's fuelling Cyclone Gabrielle? - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre (5 minute read)
The Science Media Centre also has statements from experts about the role of climate change in Auckland’s floods. Again, we don’t know exactly how much of a contribution climate change made, but a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour, leading to more intense rainfall.
Extreme rainfall in a warming world - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre (8 minute read)
The following article, from the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, summarises the most important points about climate change and tropical cyclones. However, it’s not the easiest read, so I’ve summarised the two most important points below.
The main impacts of climate change on tropical cyclones are:
The total number will stay the same or decrease – that is, we won’t have more cyclones because of climate change
Although the total number won’t increase, more of those cyclones will be severe – with more damaging winds and more intense rainfall.
Climate change and tropical cyclones | NOAA Climate (5 minute read)
This month’s climate change poem
This month’s climate change poem comes from Welsh poet Taylor Edmonds. You can read the whole of her poem “My magnolia tree” at the link below. If you scroll to the end of the page, there’s a video of her reading the poem too.
Taylor Edmonds, My Magnolia Tree
The Turnstone is free, but if you would like to support my work with a monthly or annual subscription, click the “Subscribe now” button below for options.
If you would like to support The Turnstone with a one-off contribution, click the “Buy me a coffee” button below.