“Breaking the record” is the most used phrase in Jillian Kramer’s article about the “Red Flag Warning” in Louisiana. The conversation about Green Light’s rain barrel program revolves mostly around flooding, subsidence and water retention in situations of too much water. It seems this might be changing. The city of New Orleans has issued an Emergency Declaration for Excessive Heat. Even in my permaculture garden some potted plants are starting to suffer. My neighbor, Lisa, does her best to water the plants, but the 10 rain barrels I have are almost empty. For medical reasons, I can’t tolerate excessive heat anymore so for the second year in a row I spend the summer in a cooler climate. I don’t think I can call myself “climate refugee” but I get an understanding what it means when it gets too hot to live where your home is.
Retaining water in rain barrels has become as important of a benefit for heat waves and drought, as water retention for flooding. We have missed the point of stopping or even reversing climate change. We now need to adapt and avoid further damage to the earth environment. In his book, The Climate of History in a Planetary Age, historian Dipesh Chakrabarty explains how we have to consider a change from a human-centric world view to a planetary perspective that decenters the human.
I am still trying to figure out what that exactly means for my personal life. Before I left New Orleans, I turned off the water main at my house. Although I really did it out of mistrust of my water bill, I also did it to hang on to the idea of not using drinking water to irrigate my plants. When I come back to New Orleans in the Fall, I will observe what has survived and what has not. I will add three more rain barrels, move the potted turmeric and ginger plants to the an area where I find that the plants did well in the heat. I will create additional shaded space for the chicken and research what they need to stay cool. I will ask the “inhabitants” of my garden for advice.
We will continue to grow the effort at Green Light New Orleans to double the implementation of rain barrels, to allow residents to apply for more than 2 barrels (see current program status), to bring back the garden program and establish a solar and attic insulation program through a partnership with GNOINC’s H2thefuture project. Rain barrel recipient Frank Fradella explains: “I have two rain barrels. One in the front and one in the back for my vegetables. I ran out of water in the back, but could still get some water from the front for my vegetables. The two rain barrels provided enough water to get me through the drought. I’ve had to water every day.”
Most importantly we need to understand that we have to start to see the world in a completely different way. Reading philosophers and historians like Dipesh Chakraparty and Felwine Sarr helps us to see a way forward. It is though ultimately up to us to immediately move on from reading and writing to implementation. I would dare to call a need for planetary funding, planetary implementation, planetary volunteering and a planetary life style. You can start by putting “caring for the planet” in the center of your life.
Andreas Hoffmann
