Insidious: The Climate Crisis and the Lost Plot
There’s no way to write about the climate crisis right now without being a Debby Downer, and I believe that’s a major factor for why we have stalled on climate action.
Climate change is the perfect example of an insidious enemy — it has such a gradual onset that it’s difficult to see or comprehend. Many Americans have been convinced that climate change does not exist simply because they haven’t yet experienced it with their own senses.
And in some ways, it’s hard to blame them. Yes, sea levels are rising. Yes, sea level rise is going to accelerate drastically in the next 100 years if significant global action is not enacted. But right now, the ocean is rising around 4 mm per year, and people have a hard time 1. believing it, and 2. caring about it.
One person tried to tell me recently that if all the ice on Earth melted, sea levels would not change at all. Their reasoning was that ice is 10% less dense than liquid water and floats 10% above the surface, so ice melt has a net zero change in the level of the water. And that would be true for a glass of water on your kitchen counter! What they failed to recognize is that the majority of the Earth’s polar and glacial ice is on land—over 90% of it.
Our planet is not as simple as a glass of ice water, but misinformation that is simple and easy to process is deeply tempting when the alternative (the truth) is so terrifying. And then even when flames are tearing through the Palisades and into Santa Monica, conservatives seem to be successfully convincing their constituency that the climate crisis is unrelated, if not nonexistent.
America has both a scientific literacy and a scientific communication problem. We also have a political problem and a mounting oligarchy with a chokehold on the media.
While some progress on climate action has been made in recent years, setbacks are frequent and devastating. Take, for instance, the Trump administration’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accords in 2017—a historic agreement aimed at curbing global greenhouse gas emissions. More recently, while the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 under President Biden marked a monumental step with unprecedented investments in clean energy, tax credits for renewable energy, and funding for climate resilience, the political opposition to its continuation is strong. With GOP leadership increasingly reliant on fossil fuel donations and misinformation campaigns, the next election cycle could see those gains entirely reversed.
The fight for federal action is undeniably important, but it is increasingly difficult to imagine how a deeply partisan Congress, particularly under a GOP majority, would ever support comprehensive climate policy. The fight is uphill, and the clock is ticking.
The Local Crisis: South Carolina’s Lowcountry
More and more experts are warning that while federal action remains critical, we must also focus on local and state-level efforts. Communities vulnerable to rising seas, hurricanes, and flooding—like my hometown in South Carolina’s Lowcountry—should already be preparing for the inevitable. And yet, when I look at these communities, I see representation that actively denies reality.
Take U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has oscillated between acknowledging climate change and questioning its urgency. While he has occasionally supported modest clean energy initiatives, his broader record includes opposition to major climate legislation, including the Green New Deal, which he ridiculed as a “socialist manifesto.” Meanwhile, Representative Nancy Mace, who represents much of the Lowcountry, has taken similarly contradictory stances—at times advocating for “market-driven” climate solutions while opposing robust regulations or federal funding initiatives.
These are leaders representing a region facing some of the most immediate threats from climate change: tidal flooding is worsening, hurricanes are growing more destructive, and saltwater intrusion is threatening drinking water and agriculture. Yet their actions consistently fall short of the bold measures required.
Local officials aren’t off the hook, either. Charleston-area politicians like State Senator Matt Leber have dismissed calls for proactive climate adaptation plans as a “Marxist climate change agenda”, even as areas like the Charleston Battery and Isle of Palms see routine flooding during high tides. The overall unwillingness of the SC GOP to make substantive infrastructure investments or climate-conscious zoning reforms leaves our communities unprepared for the rising seas they can no longer deny.
What Can Be Done?
Yes, we absolutely must fight for climate action on the federal level and work like hell to elect climate-conscious leaders (keep your eyes on Their Future PAC), but in the meantime, our communities can’t afford to wait. We need localized climate adaptation strategies: fortifying coastlines, improving drainage systems, reforming land-use policies, and educating the public on emergency preparedness.
South Carolina is one of the most beautiful states in the nation, but it is also one of the most fragile. If we don’t demand leadership that puts the future of our coastline first, we will watch it disappear piece by piece.
The climate crisis is insidious, yes, but we don’t have to lose the plot. The fight isn’t just on Capitol Hill—it’s in our backyards.