Right sizing my preparation for climate crises
This Is Not Doomist Posturing: Preparing for the Climate Crises
I am actively decarbonising my life—changing my diet, altering my travel habits, electrifying my home (and eventually my car), embracing active and public transportation, and pushing back on the embodied carbon in the products I use.
But the truth is, we’re facing a climate crisis—or more accurately, a series of climate crises.
We’re seeing small, climate-aggravated events: wildfires that burn hotter and longer, summer temperatures that rise and linger, and rainfall that’s more intense than ever before.
Each of these events is a “mini” record breaker, some natural disasters.
But this isn’t a natural disaster in the traditional sense either. The increase in atmospheric energy from human-induced geoengineering (i.e., the massive release of greenhouse gases) means that the ‘arbitrary’ and ‘fickle’ nature of natural disasters no longer applies.
It’s not ‘Force Majeure’ if we set the wheel in motion.
Climate crises, unlike natural disasters, look more predictable.
We know where things are likely to get bad and, to a significant degree, how bad they’ll be.
If I were to focus on three potential mini climate crises, they would be:
Heatwave
Flooding
Tropical cyclone (high wind)
First, I need to ensure my house is properly secured against high wind from a tropical cyclone.
Australian track of major cyclones
For flooding, my house is outside the flood zone, and I’ve repaired the gutters and left permeable surfaces in place to allow water to soak into the soil.
The last climate crisis to prepare for is a heatwave.
Forecasts suggest we’ll experience between three and six more heatwave days per year over the next 25+ years. Beyond 2050, it all depends on the level of global emissions we reach.
So, I’m preparing for a week or more of additional heatwaves.
What should we have in place for a week of 40°C weather with nighttime temperatures above 25°C?
Here’s what I currently have:
Awnings and blinds to reduce direct sunlight and heat exchange between the outside and inside
Tree cover over the house for natural cooling and vines as deck shading
Fans and air-conditioning for internal temperature and humidity management, powered by solar panels during the day
High-rated insulation in the roof and under the floor
And here’s what I could add:
A battery to maintain cooling if the grid is impacted (though we’re seeing greater grid resilience in US heatwaves due to renewable energy)
Building a set of rooms ‘dug in’ under the house to take advantage of lower temperatures 1-2 meters underground
An underground cooling system to pull cooler air into the house 24/7
By building this, I could push 23°C air from under the ground (particularly in my clay soil) into key parts of the house, like bathrooms or bedrooms.
This would help keep the house cool during a blackout at no operational cost—a true desert cooling solution.