I f Hurricane Helene left the East Coast with anything funny behind, it had to be a blog by retired Florida editorial page editor of the Gainesville Sun Ron Cunningham. Ron let Scott’s own words speak for getting caught with his pants down.
Studied ignorance is the political gift that keeps on giving,” Ron wrote.
“U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Floriduh, has spent virtually his entire political career — beginning as governor — ignoring environmental protections and keeping government from even acknowledging climate change, let alone doing anything about it.
“But things have changed, Now that Scott is facing a tough re-election — and trying to look concerned while meeting with victims of Hurricane Helene — he’s finally ready to concede that climate change is a thing.”
If only we had a clue as to what’s causing it, Ron asked of his target.
“Scott certainly doesn’t:
“’Who knows? Who knows what the reason is, but something is changing. Massive storms. Massive storm surge. So we’ve got to figure this out.’
“Which is not to say that Scott isn’t without solutions to this most mysterious malady:
“’You’re going to have to build higher.’
“By which he presumably means that we’ve got to start perching seaside buildings on really really high stilts so that even the most powerful storm surge will wash harmlessly underneath them. . .
“But listen, Scott’s an idea man, not a detail man. Let the scientists figure it out.”
Turn to scientists to overcome the cheek-to-cheek greenwashing of mass tourism: I put that to readers of Travel Weekly as I showed in my last posting.
As for Rick Scott, slip a shoehorn into a boot and, just like that, he becomes the Cinderella Princess.
Helene swerved east
I began writing this when I expected the power to be out for days. Despite the emergency alert that covered all of Georgia, Tropical Storm Helene swerved east after flooding Atlanta. I live just north of that divergence. We experienced rain (that we needed) and easy-to-live-with 20-mile-an-hour winds.
The essay requested by Travel Weekly called for majority science cohorts to sit on the policy boards of destination marketing organizations (DMOs). Today, almost all members of the bodies that set DMO policy represent the travel industry that the trade also markets. Accordingly, the trade markets only directly or indirectly what improves its bottom lines.
That biblical-like rampage of Helene helps me see the need to expand that science cohort that already includes climatologists, land and water conservationists, educators, ethicists, non-for-profits, citizen advocates and others to include state insurance commissioners, whether active or retired.
First estimates of damage wrought by Helene center around $150 billion, which ranks the event as one of the five naturally most costly in American history.
Yet, Helene shows the importance of this project that I have proposed for how leisure travel can contribute to climate action.
At least 200 humans are dead from Helene. Even more than 300 miles inland from the coast, one official found media sites that scared followers of dams ready to burst that forced the entire evacuation of downstream communities, thus clogging escape routes of motorists by more accurate forecasting.
For progressive Asheville and surrounding Buncombe County, with their individual climate action and climate-inclusive strategic plans, here and here, devastation came from landslides of already saturated foothills and the river that flowed scenically through the heart of town.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the river flow peaked at 24.67 ft at Asheville Sept. 27, up from the normal 1.32 ft measured three days before, flooding popular downtown arts districts. Tens of thousands in the state were still without water six days after Helene struck.
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer told PBS of the “many people whose livelihoods depend on the ability to have folks travel here and dine in a restaurant, stay in our hotels and support our local economy.” First responders are helping fill the gap.
And as enlightened as Asheville and Buncombe County might seem to be, look at their tourism websites. The brink lies somewhere off beyond blue horizons. Indeed, what brink at all? One trade site forecasts that 2025 will be the year of tourism maximizing.
There’s lots of marketing that highlights nature and adventure travel, and 25 bed-and-breakfast inns but nothing that overtly appeals to travelers who increasingly seek vacations where climate is important in their choice of where to travel.
Helene will clog courts for years in litigation between damage claimants and insurance companies.
Many in our own country will become migrants from places still misgoverned by climate change denial and developer exploitation. Indeed, many considered Asheville as a “climate haven,“ raising fears of inundation by people from the coasts. People will continue to seek places where experts show what updated climate action requires.
Yet as The Washington Post points out, this will not stop many from relocating to Asheville. The city will be rebuilt with added resilience, though as a more costly place to live. Who can say that the arts districts won’t benefit from the richer patrons moving in?
Economies reorganizing around what needs doing
People in Denver Raleigh, Minneapolis and Vancouver recognize climate action as a necessity and opportunity. In Denver it’s plain as pie here and here whereas in most ecotourism cities the connection only gets made circuitously and as in progressive Vancouver where at least I had to stumble upon it by clicking on Media, Corporate Communications, and Marketing Research tabs.
We are all becoming Africans in search of where it’s safe to live.
Next up, a closer look at the brink as Travel Weekly finds it in self-empowering travelers — more than you think!
