Climate Change and the Unpredictability of Everything
Solidarity with author, border scholar Harsha Walia and others suffering from a record-breaking deluge in British Columbia. And next week's news from The Border Chronicle.
Today’s post was supposed to be a Q&A with author, scholar, and activist Harsha Walia. However, a record-breaking deluge in the Canadian province of British Columbia, where Harsha lives, had other plans. In short, Harsha was unable to respond to our questions (sent via email). The torrential rain left a wake of massive flooding and mudslides, and the B.C. government declared a state of emergency. Our thoughts go out to Harsha and her loved ones, and quite frankly all people in affected areas, in what appears to be a chaotic, surreal, and devastating scene, some of which Harsha documents in this twitter thread.
Now we hope to post the interview with Harsha next Tuesday. We say “hope” of course because of the increasing unpredictability of everything due to an accelerating climate crisis—a theme that has certainly been on our mind here at The Border Chronicle. Since September (hard to believe we’ve been in existence for so short a time!) we reported on the connection of climate and borders via the perspective of two young women who were about to cross the U.S. border in the wake of climate disaster in Guatemala. Other reporting included two pieces we wrote coinciding with the COP26, the U.N. climate summit that ended in Glasgow last week (with great disappointment, according to much analysis). One piece investigated how “climate adaptation” for the highest historic emitters (rich countries, of course, like the United States) is border fortification, while another focused on the emerging climate border industrial complex. These last two pieces were based off a report titled Global Climate Wall and here you can check out an interview about it with coauthor Nick Buxton on Democracy Now!, and an interview Todd did on the WBAI show What’s Going On.
After Tuesday’s post on the 23rd we won’t publish again until the following Tuesday due to the holiday week. On the 30th, Melissa will continue chronicling the battle between the National Butterfly Center, the Border Patrol and the Trump administration with part two of her Barbarians and Butterflies series.
And, one last thing, Harsha’s Q&A is a part of a series of pieces that began last week (see Build Bikes, Not Walls) meant to question the limited ways that borders are all-too-often discussed and to imagine something new whether it be open borders, no borders, or a number of other alternatives. Since this conversation is one in which many people have interest, and some struggle with, we plan to have a good faith discussion forum on Thursday, December 9. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details.
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