News & Articles

We were told in 2018. We were then told in 2021. We were told again in 2024. And now we are being told almost every day.

In the spring of 2018, Duluth received a climate vulnerability assessment which stated that from 1950 to 2015 the city had experienced a 1.8 degree increase in the annual average temperature and predicted that by 2100 Duluth could expect an increase of 4 to 11 degrees. 

In the spring of 2021, the Duluth City Council passed a climate emergency resolution.

In the summer of 2024, the Washington Post reported that there were 1,400 new high temperature records set around the planet and EcoWatch reported that new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service indicated that the global average temperature for the 12-month period of June, 2023 to May, 2024 was 1.63 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. 

In July, new high temperatures in the U.S. included 120 degrees Fahrenheit in Las Vegas, 114 in Fresno, California, and 118 in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

In the past several weeks, there’s been record heat in Japan with more than 75,000 people nationwide who were hospitalized for heatstroke, record temperatures in France, Jordan hit 121.3 degrees Fahrenheit, Lakes Mead and Powell in the Southwest U.S. have dropped to record lows, and the Phoenix region of Arizona had more than 400 people die from extreme heat. 

And just yesterday, I read that a research team is now concerned about the long-term damages to the Minnesota waterways due to smoke and ash deposits from the wildfires.

Today, my sore throat, headache, scratchy eyes and tired body are letting me know that we are living in a different world. A world with new high temperatures, Canadian wildfires, extreme droughts, smoke and air quality alerts, severe flooding and rising CO2 levels. And we will be living in this climate-change world for a very long time.

In his book Dangerous Years: Climate Change, the Long Emergency and the Way Forward, David W. Orr proposes that we have entered a period called the long emergency whereby the multiple impacts of climate change will be with us for a long time. 

Orr talks about what he calls the two flaws in our Western thinking which prevents us from dealing with climate change. We tend to reduce problems to their component parts and thereby isolate them from their larger context. And we focus on the short-term.  

“To preserve what could still be a decent future we will have to act quickly, yet to succeed we have to have the stamina for the long haul,” stated Orr. 

What will it take for Duluth to have a decent future? Are we acting quickly? Do we have the stamina for the long haul? 

There doesn’t appear to be a sense of urgency with most of our political and business leaders. 

And like Orr proposed, our leaders are only thinking short-term and not putting climate change into context with city planning, business development and public health. 

Also, while there are some very engaged individuals around our city who are speaking and stepping up, too many of us are going about our daily lives without wanting to think or talk about climate change.

It is very disconcerting to see that most people don’t have the stomach or stamina for investing their time and energy into acknowledging and responding to this new climate reality that’s clearly right in front of us.

Adam Greenfield, in his book Life House: Taking Care Of Ourselves In A World On Fire, argues that our current systems and institutions aren’t dealing with the growing challenges and complexities of the long emergency with climate change. Greenfield argues that we need to commit ourselves to what he refers to as local, self-organized actions and networks of mutual care that could help defend ourselves against the numerous impacts from this climate emergency.

“As the circumstances of the Long Emergency pick up pace and blend into our permanent condition of omnicrisis, it’s time for us to think about building something else,” stated Greenfield.

What can we build in Duluth? 

Given the federal administration’s program and funding cuts to environmental and climate projects, we must build local initiatives from the ground up. 

Our city could build mutual aid networks in our neighborhoods, whereby these networks provide everything from the news and information about climate change’s impacts upon our region to offering resources for public health and support groups for mental health and counseling. 

Also, in these neighborhoods we could establish repair shops, tool sheds, food banks and possibly community potluck dinners. 

And we need to explore the development of more intentional communities and collaborative housing projects for the poor and homeless. 

Within the indigenous community, there the seven generations principle. It simply means that you think about the next seven generations when you make decisions and you reflect upon how those decisions may impact your children, grandchildren and five more generations. That’s about 175 years. 

Here in Duluth, let’s start thinking about what we’re doing right now and how our decisions could impact Duluth the next 175 years. Think about what you and I could do in our personal lives and in our neighborhoods to create a more resilient and sustainable place as we hopefully move forward through this long emergency. 

Are you in for the long haul? Are our city’s leaders in for the long haul?