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The smoke wafting down thousands of miles from the massive Canadian forest fires is but one of many recent reminders that the pace of climate change is accelerating. There are two messages in those smoke signals for rural Virginia communities. One is neither surprising nor terribly welcome: wake up folks, climate change effects are not going to spare us forever! But there is another message that is both surprising and potentially welcome: mitigating the impact of climate events is not only possible but can be a job creator for rural communities—but only if we develop a strategy! In short, there are much better options for rural areas than just playing the ostrich with his head in the sand. Here are five key takeaways for rural communities: 1. Devastating climate events are multiplying all around us – nature won’t ignore us, forever. Before this summer, Canadians could not have imagined that their normally snow-covered forests would burn so ferociously that it would destroy acreage the size of several American states. And with such speed that fighting them would become logistically impossible. But the truth is that “unprecedented” environmental catastrophes are the new normal. Much of America west of the Mississippi is facing mega-droughts, heat waves, and year-long fire threats that are—there’s that word again—unprecedented. Indeed, as we publish, Texas is suffering a deadly heat wave with temperatures exceeding 115 degrees. Meanwhile, our neighbors in Florida are facing— unprecedented—insurance claims from Hurricane Ian, claims that are devastating homeowners and insurance companies alike. And that is even before rising oceans begin a certain onslaught on communities all along the Atlantic coast (more on this in our next edition). Much of rural Virginia, fortunately, has been—thus far—spared direct impact from these climate events. Sure, our winters and summers are getting warmer and, yes, we are seeing increasing evidence of invasive plants and insects moving into our region (see the fire ant problem here). Still, we have had neither megadroughts nor massive fires nor a massive increase in hurricane damage. And that has made it is easy to be complacent. We shouldn’t be, because…. 2. Rural communities will be hurt far more than urban areas by climate events. The truth is that the rural economy and rural jobs are especially vulnerable to climate catastrophes—if we don’t plan for resilience. Drought or flooding wipe out crops in a particular rural community? No problem for city dwellers: they will just source their vegetables from somewhere else. Farmers, however, can't just pick up and move when their income source is gone. Summer heat makes working outside intolerable? Those lucky city folk can just turn up the air-conditioning. Much harder to do that when you work outside. Most importantly, when climate events strike densely populated cities, politicians will open the government's pocketbook to respond. Just one example: we the taxpayers spent $120 billion just on rebuilding New Orleans after Katrina. Rural areas are never going to get that level of support.
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