So once you've reached acceptance of human-induced climate change meaning crazy weather, what do you do?
I've written before about the need for stronger Government action to lead us away from carbon dependence and support alternatives. This time I'm interested in what it means for land managers such as councils and recently read an analysis by AECOM colleagues into lessons learnt from Hurricane Sandy in the US I'd like to share.
The first and perhaps most obvious point is to develop coastal protection plans that account for sea levels rising and increased storm intensity. When driving out to the bach at Kawhia, I wonder how soon it will be before the village is cut off and how hard it will be to justify expenditure on raising the road or building an alternative route given the isolated nature of the community. The sea comes up to the road in places and with the king tides over the summer, it got damn close.
When I worked for the Rottnest Island Authority in Western Australia, part of my job was to assess development proposals, including taking into account future climate change and how close to the coast construction could happen. My dream house on the coast might need some adaptation in the future - maybe it's on poles a bit further back.
In Whanganui, we continually see the sand at Castlecliff move around as if it has a stubborn mind of its own, not accepting its rearrangement by bulldozers.
Another point in the AECOM analysis was, "We cannot defeat nature through engineering - work with nature's built-in resiliency to protect people and assets in highly vulnerable coastal areas".
With more earthquakes happening, another lesson from Sandy is applicable to asset managers in tectonically active parts of the world: conduct vulnerability assessments for vital infrastructure and services including transport, energy, water and wastewater.
In a related piece, AECOM colleague Michael Nolan wrote about how inequality will impact on how we respond to a changing climate and sea level rise. He put it simply: "Those regions around the world with strong financial capacity will be able to afford to adapt, but the majority of regions will not be able to easily recover from such extreme events".
It is inevitable prioritising adaptation in high-value areas will occur, but there are multi-purpose solutions possible if we start thinking differently about our challenges. We can design differently if we think differently.
Maybe Oscar Wilde was right when he said, "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life", but I would prefer my environmental disasters to be in movies rather than real life.
Nicola Young is a former Department of Conservation manager who now works for global consultancy AECOM. Educated at Wanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys.
