Great Moments In Geography

     This morning, a BBC World Service news anchor interviewed Mandy Gunasekara about her thoughts on the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference winding down in Belem, Brazil.  She was Chief of Staff at the EPA during the first Trump administration and more recently, an employee at the Heritage Foundation, where she help write parts of "Project 2025" addressing climate.

     With that setup, the Beeb on one side, Heritage Foundation on the other and COP30 under the lens, you can well imagine how the interview went.  There were no surprises.

     Except for one thing; when the recent uptick in the size and scale of natural disasters came up, Ms. Gunasekara mentioned the current work being in the U.S., "building stronger, more resilient coastal cities all across the country."

     That, I think, merits parsing.  It's not coal vs. solar or CO/CO2 vs. particulates, well-trod ground with well-worn arguments.

     1. If the Trump administration is "building...cities," anywhere in the U.S., it's news to me.  I suspect it would be news to them.

     2. If they're "building stronger....cities," I'd sure like to see the details.  Does an infusion of National Guard picking up litter and showing the flag count?  Does sending in what appear to be poorly-disciplined ICE/Border Patrol squads to round up people for being too brown in public, demand papers, detain them (often in poor conditions) until their status is resolved and ship them out if they sneaked in count?  'Cos you can argue the legal side of it all you like, but roving raid teams don't do anything to make a community stronger or more resilient against natural disasters and shrinking the labor pool is more likely to make preparation, clean-up and rebuilding more difficult.

     3. Last but most saliently, how, exactly, does she think they're "building...coastal cities all across the country?"  The United States has a lot of coastline, but we've got a lot more interior.  And while I used to joke that I didn't need to move to Florida when I retired because rising sea levels and unpredictable New Madrid fault meant warm Gulf waters were headed for me right where I am, the Feds throwing up a series of shiny new bouncy coastal cities against need would be...impractical.  Not to mention the last thing I would expect from an administration that argues the climate is perfectly A-OK, and a worse tomorrow will never come.

     It has been said the Flat Earth Society has chapters and members all around the globe.  I think we'd better sponsor Ms. Gunasekara's membership.  And maybe check to see if she needs a new hot water heater or some pretty plaid polka-dot curtains for her office, possibly in sky-blue pink.

     It's not too much to require that a person's words make sense, no matter what their politics are.  Alas, the BBC interviewer was out of time, and probably far too polite to insist.