Scott Trimingham for BuzzFlash: We All Live In Champlain Towers Now
Surfside City beach. (emdurso)
June 30, 2021
By Scott Trimingham
“. . . never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
John Donne
Whatever the causes of the abrupt and tragic collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, it should serve as an allegory for our climate, which is existentially (for us) threatened by global warming. Those who will tell you otherwise will also tell you that the “election was stolen”, that we are in a “post racial society”, and that our nation’s wealth is being distributed fairly amongst our citizenry.
In other words, they are gaslighting us about a gas - carbon dioxide - that can destroy us through its rippling impact throughout the environment..
Early reports indicate that Champlain Towers South succumbed to a combination of the corrosive and erosive effects of rising sea water, possibly a sink hole, lax Reagan era building codes resulting in moisture related foundation failures and perhaps a faulty pool deck leaking water and weakening the rebar. Properties in Florida, that are situated on porous limestone along the coast, are particularly affected by climate induced rising seas, rising tides and, consequently, a now chronic exposure to salty and corrosive marine water.
The collapse of Champlain Towers South, due to environmental conditions and deteriorated swimming pool, were apparently ignored or not resolved by authorities in a timely manner (The Washington Post reports that some residents may have balked at a multi-million dollar assessment) represents and symbolizes the collapse of our climate and our collective reluctance to act quickly and decisively to prevent it. As we should have done with the pandemic.
Residents at Champlain Towers reportedly complained about their subterranean parking structures being flooded and damp even during dry months, and the 2018 warning by an engineer was largely sidelined. We will learn why, and how, the building board somehow ignored this condition, until it was too late. Just as many currently ignore and deny the danger, and even the existence, of climate change.
There has been a recent renaissance in massive yacht building.
Could these be the safe havens that the top one tenth of the top 1% expect to retire to when life on land becomes untenable and devolves into a real-life version of a “Purge” movie?
We will see.
I hope that the Champlain Towers tragedy will mark a historic point of awareness of the very real threat of climate change - just as the murder of George Floyd marked a tipping point in the acceptance of racial racism and society-sanctioned violence against people of color.
If only we will respond to this catastrophic warning — and take immediate action.
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