It’s the end of the week. British Columbians are in the midst of the third climate disaster of 2021. The first two were so called ‘heat bubbles’ one of which burned the town of Lytton to a crisp in 20 minutes. This week the town of Hope was inundated with more than 300 mm of rain in a 24-hour period from an ‘atmospheric river’. Merritt, a city of 5000 had to be evacuated. Abbotsford, a city in the midst of our breadbasket in the Fraser River valley, evacuated 16,000 citizens. Cattle and fowl drowned. Roads and rail lines north and east of Vancouver were shut by massive landslides and have not been opened to the public. Even the highways south to Washington state were cut off by flooding. West is the Pacific Ocean… We are an island nation, so it seems. The major TransCanada pipeline carrying petroleum, which runs parallel to a highway, was shut down for fear of rupture. Gasoline is being rationed. Nonessential travel is prohibited. Grocery shelves are empty in the interior of BC. Citizens have organized food drives, temporary housing, and foster homes for escaped dogs.

Life carries on. We celebrated two birthdays in an upscale Vancouver restaurant yesterday, a long-awaited pleasure, and a first after nearly 2 years of restricted activities due to the Covid 19 pandemic. As we sit down with our friends, vaccine passports screened, masks removed at the table, sitting in an outdoor patio complete with ivy, we are all reminded of different days. The space looks a bit like Tavern on the Green in New York City. A sense of opulence and jubilation permeates the air. Life’s troubles seem so far away. The next table too is celebrating a birthday. A glimpse of days gone by. A hope for life returning to “normal”.

As the forced-air heater above us and the flickering propane gas lanterns beside us start to roast the gentleman in their suit jackets, a creeping guilt falls over the dinner party. How can we enjoy such opulence? The world has changed. What about the empty shelves in Kelowna? What about the limited oil and gas supplies? The dike has burst mentally, revealing a split between an old opulent mind set and the new reality: the flood waters of climate change roaring in.  Mother Earth has spoken that we can no longer omnipotently take her for granted.