From wildfires and droughts to intensified hurricanes, there’s no doubt that climate change is increasing not only our number of natural disasters, but also the intensity of the extreme weather events that we are experiencing worldwide.

As the species that have caused this climatic disaster, humans have a whole lot to answer for.

And nowhere is that more apparent than in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, a place in which residents have waited with bated breath for the last fifteen years, to see whether this year’s flooding will be devastating.

Then, on Wednesday August 13th, it happened again – and the city was only saved thanks to 10,000 temporary flood barriers they’d recently had erected.

According to a report in The Guardian, Juneau residents were first made aware by an urgent alert that ordered them to evacuate their homes by nightfall on Tuesday August 12th.

Thankfully, most residents heeded the warning, since the following day an ice dam burst, leading to a huge surge of water (comprised of rainfall and snowmelt) hurtling toward the city.

But homes and livelihoods in Juneau were saved by the temporary barriers, as Juneau city manager Katie Koester explained:

“If it weren’t for them, we would have hundreds and hundreds of flooded homes.”

And as water floods the city from The Mendenhall Glacier every year now, this is unfortunately a routine part of Juneau life.

Why? Well Alaska is the most rapidly heating state in the US, with a 3.1°F average annual temperature increase over the last hundred years – a rise so significant that Alaska’s glaciers are melting faster than any others on the planet.

Hence, the situation in Alaska is seen by many as a symbol of things to come.

Since a certain level of glacier melt is considered a tipping point – a milestone in climate change after which point there is no going back, since it will trigger other tipping points like dominos – the situation that Juneau finds itself in every year really emphasises how much needs to be done about the climate crisis, and fast.

After all, glacier melt will ultimately lead to higher sea levels, threatening terrestrial life, especially at our coasts – not to mention vital marine ecosystems, already hampered by rising water temperatures. And since some of our most fundamental organisms – like phytoplankton, without which life on Earth as we know it would cease to exist – live in our seas, it’s clear that something needs to change.

For Alaska and for our planet, we need to do what we can to protect our climate (we’re looking at you, big business), and we need to do it now.

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