Annus Horribilus

1992 wasn't the best year for Queen Elizabeth II. For months she had watched her family deteriorate and then suffered dislocation when Windsor Castle caught fire. In her year-end speech she could only conclude: "1992 is not a year I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis (horrible year)".We could easily borrow that same latin term to describe the vengeance of the weather in 2010. In fact, it was the year of almost every natural disaster imaginable. By the time the planet has exerted its revenge for our foolishness, some 260,000 people will have perished from earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, landslides and heat waves. It has been the worst year in decades. Last year, 2009, saw only 15,000 killed. The amount of casualties can vary each year, as in Haiti, where over 200,000 were lost, in part because of poor construction practices.The one constant in all this, however, is climate change and how it struggles to redress the imbalance human activity has placed upon it. This is the stuff that scientists have warned us about for decades, and which a few ideological pundits deny. Climatologists report that 10 countries suffered the hottest year ever. In Haiti, China, Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, the United States, Chile, Turkey, Italy, India, Colombia and Chad, disaster occurred that hadn't been experienced in a generation.Politicians, economists, and corporations have created for us a false dichotomy that affirms we can't take on serious environmental policies as long as the world's economy remains in such a fragile state. Sadly, they never got around to it when the world's economy was speeding ahead. So the argument is that we can't afford environmental reform. The climate tragedies of this year caused $222 billion in economic losses. Those costs would surely have been higher if Haiti and Pakistan had any form of insurance, but instead the victims are left destitute and with no recourse for compensation.Key to all this is the link between human actions and the degradation of the planet. If it's true what the climate scientists affirm - and there's no reason to deny such overwhelming evidence - then we are only part-way through a near future of increased and catastrophic natural disaster, made all the more complicated by the lack of human preparation. In other words, our lack of effective intervention on climate change will actually cost far more than if we had just addressed the problem straight up.Consider Haiti as an example. Natural disasters now appear to be annual occurrences on that hard-pressed land. Donor nations have pledged billions over a 10-year period to get it up and running again. Yet as we continue to bury our heads in the sand regarding environmental consequences, natural disaster will occur repeatedly and will be expensive each and every time. So, while we offer aid to a suffering people, we continue to pour carbon into the air in ways that will only bring about further shock to the island. Much of the generous aid - perhaps the largest portion - will be wasted because we'll always be in a state of rebuilding due to our negligence on the environmental file. Aid won't be wasted so much because of Haitian corruption as it will Western inaction. It's a hopeless cycle - humanitarian dollars poured into nations doomed to more natural disasters.2010 - the year our inability to consider effective environmental reform came to roost. And while this country boasts of its aid to places like Haiti, it nevertheless continues to stoke the fire of disaster by refusing to adopt those policies, in concert with other nations, that would see us finally take a responsible stand on climate change. It's getting really expensive not to change; we just haven't caught on to that yet. And considering how this year is beginning, the worst is yet to come. Annus horribilus might find lots of company.