What Vermont's Historic Floods Tell Us About Climate Change

Рет қаралды 171,343

6 ай бұрын

Find America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston here: to.pbs.org/3uKw6b8
In Vermont, summer is supposed to be about picnics, wild blueberries and maple creamies. And that’s how it was in 2023, until the floods came. In the hottest July since we started keeping records, the rain didn’t stop for two days, dropping more than nine inches of rain on some cities. And Montpelier, the state capitol, was fighting for its life.
America Outdoors: Understory was on the scene to capture what happened in Montpelier, the fighting spirit of its citizens and the science behind the worst floods in its history. Scientists explain the impact of rising temperatures, and the way the state’s magnificent mountains trapped the rain in narrow river valleys. Witness the devastating impact on homes, farms and Main Street businesses. Embed with rescuers who braved the floods in boats, and meet Vermonters determined to recover, while painfully aware that the very idea of summer may be up for grabs.
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Пікірлер: 562

@robertmacleod4058 6 ай бұрын

The discussion about the importance of floodplains matters. The fact is that a lot of floodplain in Vermont is fairly intact, and it did hold and absorb a lot of water. But her e is another dimension: a lot of that floodplain was in agricultural crops. MANY vegetable farms suffered significant losses and that has had a significant impact on the amount of locally produced food. Many other farms, that had fields of grass and corn for livestock, lost a cutting of grass or, in some cases, the entire crop of corn. Bottom line is that the effects of climate induced flooding consist of so many cascading layers of impact.

@vwnut13 6 ай бұрын

The importance of floodplain matters, the entirety of downtown Montpelier is built on a floodplain of not one but two rivers. Perhaps that is why the city has had three catastrophic floods in the past 31 years.

@mgoh1984 6 ай бұрын

It's the reason you buy insurance.

@lord6617 6 ай бұрын

Or Wetlands - the USA at the behest of republican legislators just obliterated the wetland designation for half of the country's wetlands, which means they'll be farmed, developed, and no longer serving their function in many cases.

@sherriianiro747 6 ай бұрын

@@lord6617That's what they did here years ago and now homeowners are paying the price!

@jonathanrichardson122 6 ай бұрын

I was gonna say hows the floodplain in Montpelier? OH wait it's the city...

@wirebrushproductions1001 6 ай бұрын

At some level, much of the discussion ignores the obvious: flood plains are called that because they were created by floods. People built on them, and are astonished when they, you know, flood. That it hasn't happened recently is not an excuse for thinking it can't happen.

@TheGuruStud 6 ай бұрын

But but muh scam! As if climate change causes every localized event. It's a clown show.

@contrafax 6 ай бұрын

Right? Flood plains are basically part of a river.

@archer_root 6 ай бұрын

This flooding occurs so periodically in riverside Vermont towns that there are enamel plaques, photo-document signage, artworks, et cetera, that commemorate these cyclical flood events. Visit Waterbury, Barre, Montpelier -really any riverside town in Vermont and you see these signs installed by the municipality and community groups. That fact that Vermonters haven’t retroactively designed for handling increasing storm events is what is truly tragic. Much talk, not enough action.

@Appophust 6 ай бұрын

They had to have known about the floods before they built there. It's their fault they did nothing about it for hundreds of years.

@TheHonestPeanut 6 ай бұрын

Yeah that always makes me tilt my head. You can argue all you want. Doesn't change how earth works.

@An_Economist_Plays 6 ай бұрын

I recall the aftermath of Katrina - the poor people were ignored and forgotten there, as well. We need better low-income housing and it starts with being located in better areas. I live in Dallas, where the poorest people were shoved into floodplains and kept there by generations of official discrimination, followed by decades of politicians not wanting to admit that the end of formal segregation didn't end the injustices created by it.

@d.tr6176 6 ай бұрын

You keep that line of thinking, you'll never get out of it. You need to think forward, not backward.

@An_Economist_Plays 6 ай бұрын

@@d.tr6176 if we forget what happened, we'll never move forward. We'll stay stuck in the injustices of the past. Being aware means we do more than just say "move out of the floodplain" and think we've solved it.

@internalizedhappyness9774 6 ай бұрын

Preach the Truth 🙏🏼

@internalizedhappyness9774 6 ай бұрын

@@d.tr6176 you are ignorant if you believe that, it will not affect you!

@An_Economist_Plays 6 ай бұрын

@@sladewestern6704 thank you for the view most in line with that of a 1948 Dixiecrat. I am unswayed and will continue along my line of thoughtful compassion. Cruelty, even when expressed solely with emojis, is not right for me.

@Emmygedden 6 ай бұрын

Durring a news conference in July as this was occurring, Gov Phil Scott mentioned that we had just finished the last repair project from Tropical Storm Irene. Those repairs held up, when everything else didn't. As we rebuild it has to be strong enough to last in the changing climate.

@d.tr6176 6 ай бұрын

Good point. We need to adapt. Not be so presumptuous as to think we can 'change' the climate. Give it a little bit of time and you'll see that there are at least as much and many advantages as inconveinents to cliamte change. And not carbon tax will prevent storms.

@burtan2000 6 ай бұрын

Great point - and one to remember while we brainstorm how to move forward. I think we've concluded that there's a limited amount individuals can do. We minimize our carbon footprint, vote intelligently - at the ballot box and with our wallets. But the problem can only be addressed in any meaningful way by government policy and how large organizations operate. Addressing the symptoms of climate change - like events like these - is something that I think we do impact more directly. Ensuring we build more resiliently. Incorporate this stuff into municipal planning and into the design of civil infrastructure. There's no silver bullet for addressing climate change and there's no silver bullet for addressing it's localized symptoms. There are tens of thousands of small towns, villages, and small cities all over the US that have similar downtowns RIGHT on waterways. We're going to spend the rest of this century addressing this $h!!+. But I think we can. If anyone can, America can. We have the resources, we have the knowhow, and enough of us have the will.

@spuriousgeorge7233 6 ай бұрын

@@d.tr6176What are the advantages, then?

@ia8018 6 ай бұрын

@@spuriousgeorge7233I think the end of civilization is the main advantage climate change will bring. Hopefully.

@elizabethclaiborne6461 6 ай бұрын

This is like Katrina, entire insides of buildings on the curb. I lost everything in that. You do not get over it.

@jacobdugan4305 6 ай бұрын

I am a retired Professional Land Surveyor and I detest the term "100 year flood". They are, tecnically speaking, a flood with a 1% chance of occuring each year. In Western North Carolina we have seen such an occurence on two consecutive Fridays when hurricane remnants inundated us with rain. Plus many of our flood maps were drawn with outdated information. So I much prefer the term 1% Flood.

@burtan2000 6 ай бұрын

Exactly - it's all probability. It's highly unlikely, but certainly possible for such storms to occur two years in a row. I worked on HEC-RAS modeling of an urban river with goal of updating FEMA floodplain mapping. The process is INCREDIBLY slow and tedious - even compared to all other environmental and civil infrastructure regs. The process is further complicated with lots of social cultural and economic factors to consider. Not just the weather data and the river gage data. NOAA and NWS has slightly easier task of determining what precipitation amounts equal what storm return periods. That's strictly a statistics excercise. Fortunately, we have a lot of decent data. Simulating those storms in updated, accurate, calibrated models of waterways is extremely complex task. Even the best models made with great detail, accurate mapping, topo data, sewer data etc. are still limited to X-factors. Which is why just a few clogged drain inlets can cause a neighborhood to flood in a 5-year storm event. Localized flooding isn't the focus I guess. But try telling that to the homeowner whose house is underwater. All events are becoming more frequent, it seems. I bet the data would show that Irene and July 2023 were probably closer to 25-year or 50-year return period events. The FEMA maps are based on old precip data that was modeled a long time ago. We've added pavement everywhere. It rains more now. Sewers crack and get groundwater. They clog. So many aspects to consider.

@stackflow343 6 ай бұрын

Land surveyor here, not licensed just an IO. I've noticed this as well.

@bluegold21 6 ай бұрын

@@burtan2000 The increase in precipitation is due to a warming atmosphere. That is the problem. Not the way stats are used. The systems weren't built for the warming climate bc no company in the boom years 1950-70s' took a blind bit of notice of scientists growing concerns over CO2 production. And the oil companies were actively blocking any message of that type from reaching the public. You can moan about present services all you want but the truth is the game was rigged from the start. The oil barons have been getting filthy rich whilst lobbying governments to block regulations which would have led to much better environmental studies and subsequently a more pro-active reaction from the public. But when large demographics like the evangelical church have been groomed for 50+ years to believe only god controls the weather then the opportunity for us to work as a species; as a single unit, is destroyed. And we see that happening everywhere. The divisive right-wing conservatives keeping up with their conflict rhetoric whilst daming scientists and their continued calls for fossil fuel mitigation. What the right wing and their sponsors are doing is nothing short of evil. And when you see filthy xenophobic anti-science people like Mike Johnson sit in such an important chair its clear things will only get more divisive which serves their watchtower armageddon ambitions. Manifest destiny is their belief system. They are a death cult who are more than happy to promote the continued use of fossil fuels. Any argument that detracts from these facts is only serving their vile wants.

@dontgettoknowm9864 6 ай бұрын

Interesting. Thank you

@briandbeaudin9166 6 ай бұрын

Ok. But is I still 1%? Or these events now 4 or 5% per year floods. And the calculations need modifiers related to local development, infrastructure in place and maintenance levels which can significantly impact how serious a major precipitation event will be.

@debrademingwalsh7495 6 ай бұрын

Our daughter owns one of the businesses flooded in Montpelier. After months of hard work, she has finally reopened...

@brucefrykman8295 3 ай бұрын

City floods are caused by insufficient drainage infrastructure, they are all man made. Likewise bad wiring sometimes causes homes to burn down and poorly designed sewer lines often backup and ruin property. None of this has anything to do with "climate" (average weather)

@izznub 6 ай бұрын

It's both ironic and tragic that a mobile home is in fact, not very mobile.

@Emmygedden 6 ай бұрын

Montpelier's flooding could have been worse. The dam upstream was inches from overtopping.

@christinearmington 6 ай бұрын

Yikes 😳

@lbrown7164 6 ай бұрын

Wait until next time

@burtan2000 6 ай бұрын

I thought the same thing. Maybe "only" losing economically IS what happens in areas less affected by climate change. Thankfully, I believe there was no loss of life. That's not small. And yeah, it's partly bc it's a small city and not New Orleans or NYC in a Sandy-type event, but still, that will always be THE most important thing.

@CortexNewsService 6 ай бұрын

They got lucky. Which is frightening

@FelipeKana1 6 ай бұрын

THERE'S A DAM UPSTREAM? Holy heck. Imagine if it bursts like happened in Syria

@meh-87 6 ай бұрын

If there's one lesson to take it's to avoid buying a home in a flood prone area especially if you intend to stay long term. After experiencing flooding and fear of hurricane storm surge it became non-negotiable on the next place for me.

@kyjo72682 6 ай бұрын

Wow! I didn't even register these floods in the news cycle.. Reminds me of the floods we got in Czechia (and other EU countries) in 2002. Prague and other cities were recovering for several years. Subway was closed for almost a year. Some buildings near rivers were flooded up to 5-7 meters. The bright side, I guess, is that we made some investments in anti-flood protections after that. Built some additional earthworks around rivers, walls, etc. Anyway, wish you recover soon!

@doublecrossedswine112 6 ай бұрын

Media outlets, based on my observations only, will only mention climate change in the summer.

@d1j16 6 ай бұрын

At current rate of inaction, we have to look at this from the perspective of "The is no winning, only degrees of losing.", Sadly the wealthy & powerful won't experience anything more than inconvenience, while most of the population suffers horribly.

@brucefrykman8295 3 ай бұрын

Try to think real hard on this quiz: its tricky: 1) All 100 year floods are caused by changes in over all "average weather" often called "climate" (true/false) 2) Only some 100 year floods are caused by a change in the over all average weather (true/false) 3) Only "climate scientists" can tell us which 100 year floods are cause by "climate change" and whicn ones are caused by random weather events (true/false) Ill score it for you when you give your best answers

@Ace-1525 6 ай бұрын

Up until a few years ago, this area of Pennsylvania was more or less safe. But we had three tornadoes (two in the same storm) touch down less than a mile from my house, our wildfire risk remains at a perpetual high, my backyard- on a mountaintop- has been flooding so much that we have permanent sink holes now. There really is no winning, and the people who should truly be held responsible for hurting our planet will likely never truly suffer the way the rest of us will. I'm so angry and heartbroken and terrified, and I don't know what to do.

@kmoses582 6 ай бұрын

Was it co2 that caused the 1890 Wilkes-Barre tornado?

@hehehehaw1682 6 ай бұрын

⁠⁠@@kmoses582could be. I’m not sure off the top of my head, I’m not familiar with the incident, but warming climates, changing weather patterns and an unstable atmosphere can all cause tornadoes, and they can all be caused by the greenhouse effect Instability in the Gulf of Mexico is likely pushing tornado alley eastward, causing more tornadoes to spawn in a relatively flat state like PA

@kmoses582 6 ай бұрын

@@hehehehaw1682 When did PA become flat? If warmer climates are responsible for tornadoes that means that they should happen more in tropical countries and during the summer. Bad weather is not new, you just accept the narrative without question.

@hehehehaw1682 6 ай бұрын

@@kmoses582 *relatively flat. Tornado alley used to include parts of Colorado lmfao Read my comment again, it’s not bad weather, and it’s not just warm weather. It’s changing weather patterns. The gulf air patterns are pushing unstable air eastwards. It’s not bad weather, it’s changing weather

@kmoses582 6 ай бұрын

@@hehehehaw1682 I lived in PA for 6 years, its not flat. I have also driven through Colorado, the East is very flat. By the way I attended Elementary in PA in the early 90s and we had tornado drills. Also if its all about the heat, why do more tornadoes happen in the spring then the summer? Why are there more tornadoes in northern Alabama than coastal Alabama and the Florida panhandle?

@tammyd.970 6 ай бұрын

Am I the only who felt transported back to days of Reading Rainbow?? This guy is so much like LeVar Burton. I hope he takes that as a high compliment!! Great video. Good to know more about these logical reasons for flooding. I hope they can rebuild quickly. What a nightmare.

@Yanquetino 6 ай бұрын

The obvious need is to immediately STOP new drilling; SHUT DOWN fracking; END oil subsidies; INVEST those funds into renewable energy, solar panels, wind generators, energy storage, electric cars, tax incentives for all these transitions. We've kicked the can down the road for decades, and now time has run out.

@Ace-1525 6 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, those profiting off of those methods are doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening. Greed is a powerful thing, and it's killing us all.

@robertgifford1678 5 ай бұрын

You can't make renewable energy without the use of fossil fuels. Try mining with solar panels. Try moving that semi full of food bringing your groceries to the Coop with a wind generator. We have saved more energy with electric bikes then we have with electric cars. If you do full cost accounting adding all the infrastructure costs, manufacturing costs, the costs of subsidies and costs to make the electricity Electric cars are very expensive to drive and they don't save any pollution they just move it somewhere else. The seldom advertised demographic of who actually owns electric cars shows that the top 1-2% of the wage earners buys them and enjoys the benefits (sudisdes and subsidized electricity) . The non Electric car owner pays more in taxes and more for electricity to benefit the part of the population who buys them and could afford to fully pay for them. An EV should be just like a ferrari car. Super cool for sure but please pay for it fully by yourself without burdening the rest of the population with your green aspirations that are not really very green.

@opossumlvr1023 6 ай бұрын

Michigan is very resilient to climate change, we are surrounded by water which keeps summers cooler and the winters warmer. Lower Michigan has a lot of sand so rain soaks into the ground quickly.

@stephanimeyers9570 6 ай бұрын

Agreed. Michigan is a good choice

@hazbaska1 6 ай бұрын

Just so everyone knows, the hundred year storm does not mean a storm once in a hundred years. But I agree that yes, it does need to account for this new reality of theirs which will be more common.

@davecgriffith 6 ай бұрын

Right; better to say "a storm with a 1% chance of happening in any given year". Just because a place has had a 100-year event doesn't make it safe for the next 100 years. Or even 20. Further, the calculated 100-year storm is based on historical stats, making it only valid in an unchanging climate.

@vwnut13 6 ай бұрын

@@davecgriffithThis has happened three times in the last 31 years. 150 years ago there was floodplain, now it's a city built in the floodplaain. I wonder why it floods now...

@infinitemonkey917 6 ай бұрын

It's reasonable to stop calling them that when there is a trend toward more frequent floods of that magnitude.

@billybrown7953 6 ай бұрын

LOL 😂, ok .

@billybrown7953 6 ай бұрын

@@vwnut13I live in Florida and the MSM pushes that hurricanes have become stronger and more destructive. But facts are .... hurricanes aren't any stronger and they however are more destructive because people keep building in hurricane prone areas.

@gamingtonight1526 6 ай бұрын

It will take not millions, not trillions, but gazillions to fix all the ways we have mucked up our rivers, land and air. Just moving all housing from floodplains would cost trillions, just in the U.S.! This is why I am pessimistic about humanities future.

@marieswan5242 6 ай бұрын

Agree 100%

@micmic9410 5 ай бұрын

@@marieswan5242It doesn’t help when these wealthy projects pay little no taxes and leaves it up the the peasant working class. Should be an equal tax even if your making millions.

@jimthain8777 6 ай бұрын

One thing that can be done in a place where people KNOW it floods, but you can't move away, is you can move UP. Mobile homes especially can be raised on stilts. It's something people in flood prone areas around the world do to keep their homes safe from the high water. If the water goes under your home rather than into it, you don't get damage. Educating insurance companies that paying to raise these kinds of homes, means money spent now, and MORE money saved later when these homes are not damaged in a flood. If floods really are going to happen more often this is the best way to deal with the high water, is to be above it.

@boston_octopus 6 ай бұрын

But you're stuck up there on stilts. How long until the water recedes so that you can get to the grocery store? Best to move out of the flood plain.

@jimthain8777 6 ай бұрын

@@boston_octopus my solution was for those who can NOT move away. perhaps i should have mentioned that getting a boat of some kind, that you can tie to your home would be useful.

@benmcreynolds8581 6 ай бұрын

What oddly gave me an existential crisis was once i learned that our society does not care if u r not able to afford the cost of living. You can live out ur entire life but our society REQUIRES you to have a certain amount of money in order to even have the most basic quality of living. That amount of money is getting more and more unattainable for even the lowest living standards. It creeps me out that our society is so harsh that if someone can't come up with a couple thousand dollars per month.. then OH WELL.. there is no resources for those stuck in poverty. Our society points and complains about the homeless issue (which is understandable) but how can we not take a step back & CONSIDER that this problem might reflect a problem in our Society? Idk.. i think there is a line between {people who are stuck in poverty~and~those who openly sleep in front of shops & liter & act disrespectfully towards their surroundings} With that said: i wish more than anything else in this world, that we could find a way to help those decent people who are stuck in poverty because once in poverty, it's very unlikely that they will ever full escape poverty. If we had some way of helping them, it could trickle down to other aspects of our society. Money can go to landlords, property owners, shops, corporations, insurance companies, taxes, banks, etc. but if we just continue to let people in poverty be completely isolated, then we are increasing the amount of people who struggle to fit into society and we will see these effects trickle down throughout our society and economy as a whole. So thinking about that gives me even more dread because it's so obvious how this is negatively effecting society and yet our society has done NOTHING about this and it seems to be such a touchy topic for anyone to consider anything related to it. It's weird how touchy this topic is when our system has no problem bailing out banks & airline companies whenever they need... But if we were to consider to help decent people who are stuck in poverty.. then no way and it starts a huge argument. It seems so backwards? How does bailing out the banks and airline companies help society and the economy at all? If anything it shows that the economy & society is struggling & bailing out banks doesn't help the vast majority of people. Except for maybe the most wealthiest people.. Anyways, after considering all of this, i just can't help but wish that people could be able to live their lives at the most basic level of living without so much stress, restrictions, demands forced upon them. I just wish our society could at least have SOMETHING for those who deal with poverty but are good people and are willing to do, help, try anything. It's different if someone wants to be an unwilling, negative, unhelpful person... I understand that not everyone can or deserves help, it's something we should each have to at least try and earn but right now our society provides nothing and this freaks me out. Life is getting more and more unaffordable and requirements for renting, etc. become more and more difficult to fulfill... I just don't think this is how we should run our society. I'm not against capitalism at all. It's just certain things can get out of control and i really think the way our modern society functions has become so dysfunctional and getting more and more unattainable for the average person and it freaks me out that no one is doing anything about this... This gives me an existential crisis.

@CampingforCool41 6 ай бұрын

Homeless and people in poverty are not a flaw in the system of capitalism, it’s a feature. This country is so wealthy it could solve the problem of poverty virtually overnight…if it chose to. So why doesn’t it? Because poverty creates desperation. A constant pool of people who will fill in the shittiest jobs for the lowest pay because they are that desperate. That’s how it works. Just recently there was a video- a public video, not hidden, not leaked- of some rich asshole I forget the name of at a big conference saying exactly that. Complaining that the unemployment rate was too low. This is out in the open. Rid yourself of the ideas about “who deserves help and who does it”. The conditions of poverty create many of the behaviors you would call “disqualifying” to help them. You want to stop crime? You eradicate poverty.

@internalizedhappyness9774 6 ай бұрын

All we have to lose our chains… There will always be more of us than them! No matter how much they attempt to learn about us we will know ourselves better! Because the abusive idiots forgot that if they make an environment so abusive, beyond abusive! than they become the very weaklings that they worked so hard not to be, for they no longer have the promise of a future to hold over our head like the proverbial carrot that the future aways was used as! The most heartbreaking part about the billionaires and their failings is all the people they drag down with them! Anti-social people still have feelings, it’s just numb. So remember, they know what fear is no matter how hard they try to lie! Nature is a scary thing! 🌈🌤️

@letransformateur6477 6 ай бұрын

Move out to a nicer country then! The US is kinda messed up it seems.

@internalizedhappyness9774 6 ай бұрын

@@letransformateur6477 Thanks Grandpa!

@Pistolita221 6 ай бұрын

@@letransformateur6477if sane people abandon the USA, the whole world is in greater jeopardy. We staff European bases, we have enough firepower to level the middle east, sitting in military bases in the middle east. If the USA falls, it is everyone's problem in some VERY big ways

@catherinegreen8440 6 ай бұрын

I love these brief programs-high impact and understandable. Thank you, PBS!

@robertgifford1678 5 ай бұрын

Except its largely spin and alarmist propaganda

@brucefrykman8295 3 ай бұрын

PBS (leftist) Propaganda, Bullsh!t and Slander

@paulsukhu 6 ай бұрын

Anyone interested in this issue should check out how San Antonio (TX) solved this problem by building a flood channel bypass that can be closed when needed to protect the old urban core. Dallas is an example of how newer cities were built leaving room for a large flood plane.

@fleachamberlain1905 6 ай бұрын

With respect, I'd say that the idea that it was safe was flawed in the first place, given that it is a known floodplain. The idea that a floodplain won't flood from extreme rainfall, so it is fine to live on a floodplain is fundamentally wrong.

@Pistolita221 6 ай бұрын

We'll defeat the floodplain just like the Titanic beat the iceberg

@cesrperez 6 ай бұрын

Same thing with Phoenix building a massive multimillion person city that continues to explode in population in the middle of a water scarce and inhospitably hot desert and then acting shocked when it gets inhospitably hot and the taps run dry.

@caitlin9411 6 ай бұрын

Excellent narration and storytelling

@earthknight60 6 ай бұрын

Back in the early 20-teens I worked on exactly this issue in northern Vermont, with Montpelier being within my work area. Lotso f discussions with town planning commissions, conservation commissions, large landowners, etc about a variety of topics, a major one being upper watershed management, rightsizing road culverts, and adapting infrastructure within the towns. I'd meet with the various parties, get them onboard, and connect them with the resources and agencies so they could take the net steps. Unfortunately, people being as they are, often people and agencies didn't follow through and simple, cost-effective solutions were often not adopted.

@lowwastehighmelanin 6 ай бұрын

I did a paper on Vermont in elementary school over 30 years ago. I NEVER believed the idea that Vermont was safe. I'm also Indigenous. My people are from the east coast. This is all expected and a consequence of failure to act. I'm sad for those impacted but I'm also completely unsurprised. My spouse isn't American and doesn't live here. Lives in a mountainous country in Europe. They suffered historic, record breaking heat this past summer. This is the new norm. Brought to us all by greedy individuals who were not checked before things got unhinged.

@glidercoach 6 ай бұрын

This is not the new norm. It is normal. It has happened in the past and will happen in the future.

@andywomack3414 6 ай бұрын

This is not a disaster. Its investment opportunities for wealthy capitalists. Wealthy capitalists, many of whom are responsible for the structure of an economy that prioritizes fossil fuel development and use, and who have the wealth to not only escape the consequences of climate change, but to actually profit from it. And have purchased determinate influence over both political parties.

@QueenBDreamwalker 6 ай бұрын

Marginalized communities are AllWays the first with the most devastating impact from climate change, their Voices have gone unheard thru the generations

@notequartocr3502 6 ай бұрын

Normaly i "just go" with climate changes, but this year here in brazil the things are non-human, the heat seems to no have stop, the rains now are extensive and still the heat just go on, this make me think alot... because i "hate" extreme heat.

@bettysue8671 6 ай бұрын

Didn't you guys get some extreme storm like last week?

@notequartocr3502 6 ай бұрын

@@bettysue8671 yeah

@sidstovell2177 6 ай бұрын

SW Mexico. June. Day after day, we kept asking ourselves, isn't this heat unusual?

@PremierCCGuyMMXVI 6 ай бұрын

Global Warming is the biggest problem we face this century as a species and it’s obvious the effects of a warming global climate are occurring. But seeing how Vermonters can come together and care about each other in a collectivist way makes me a little more confident that we can take action on climate change. Unfortunately soiecty is run by extremely wealthy billionaires and companies that are most responsible for the climate crisis.

@chrismulry6792 6 ай бұрын

How?

@PremierCCGuyMMXVI 6 ай бұрын

@@chrismulry6792 wdym “How?”

@internalizedhappyness9774 6 ай бұрын

@@chrismulry6792 You will not become a billionaire, they did not get there by allowing people like you to become like them!

@billybrown7953 6 ай бұрын

LOL 😂, keep drinking the koolaid.

@nicolatesla5786 6 ай бұрын

I disagree. Because we're the consumers of those products that the billionaires invest in. We're all in this together and it's as a global problem. I study anthropocene climate change and Earth was never designed to have 8 billion humans. Because the total carbon emissions is directly proportional to the total population on the planet that emits carbon dioxide and methane and since 1970 has deforested half the planet

@MinusMedley 6 ай бұрын

I can promise you nowhere is safe, the human/supply chain element is the biggest issue. When global food shortages eat into stock piles, you're last concern will be the weather.

@gamtngirl3655 6 ай бұрын

Sobering. Well done.

@Mike80528 6 ай бұрын

I moved out of Northern California decades ago due to climate concerns. I looked all over the country and picked the Colorado Front Range. Still very happy with the situation. Low humidity will be critical and growing season is already getting longer. High today 57F, but historical average is 42F and our nighttime lows are seeing similar gaps, and this isn't a fluke. A few years ago I was seeing 5f above average consistently, but it really jumped this year.

@stephanimeyers9570 6 ай бұрын

We left Denver due to the drought and wildfire concerns. We felt having access to water was critical and moved into the Great Lakes Basin.

@Mike80528 6 ай бұрын

@@stephanimeyers9570 Well water when you leave Denver. Big cities are a BAD IDEA anywhere. Infrastructure will collapse and you will be SOL. Initially lived in Fort Collins, but moved South once kids got out of school and bought land with water rights.

@stephanimeyers9570 6 ай бұрын

@@Mike80528 it doesn't help if you rights to water that doesn't exist

@Mike80528 6 ай бұрын

@@stephanimeyers9570 That's a knowledge/understanding issue. If you are in a large city, it's an issue. If you go and buy on top of an aquafer that is not impacted (and maybe get rights to another aquafer a little further down as well for insurance), then you are fine. That said, even as fast as some aquifers are being depleted it probably doesn't really matter that much. Nothing will be surviving for all too long no matter what. I suspect my grandchildren may be the end of the line (or close enough to it) which brings so much sadness when I think about it.

@hawthorneantilles6755 4 ай бұрын

@@stephanimeyers9570 I hear ya. I love the west/southwest but I'm staying put in rural New England. Our town was founded before the US existed and we have an elite liberal arts college, working farms and existing community supported agriculture. Things will be bad everywhere once the food shortages start but we both live in places where you can grow food. No one can survive all on their own. I say find a sustainable community with sane people and work cooperatively.

@KaritKtana 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for the work you're doing in putting out videos like this!! ❤🌐

@lizzybug 6 ай бұрын

Jon Erickson should really become a spokesperson for helping climate deniers to understand why things are changing!! He really explained things in a simple and understandable way, and his appearance gives many climate deniers comfort. He is in an age demographic that also helps to reduce some of the intimidation factor, so they’ll actually LISTEN instead of jumping to argue!

@robertdavenport6705 6 ай бұрын

The guy from the mobile home court said something quite realistic , and I paraphrase . "don't know if it's climate change , but it's happening. " That in the end game will be the story . You can't deny that your home was flooded , or that your aged mother died of heat stroke , or that you can't grow corn on your farm anymore.

@nicolatesla5786 6 ай бұрын

I've been researching climate change for a couple years now. Believe it or not 20 years ago I actually witnessed the first effects of climate change on the British Columbia Forest system. For millennia the polar vortex that comes out of the Arctic and travels down the latitudes to the United States and can travel as far as florida, and yes this is a 1980s when the orange Orchards with dye or they lose their oranges, the polar vortex is fairly weak and it's not getting stronger anymore. The British Columbia Forest system has Mountain Pine meals and they started to kill off the Pine Forest. Within a few years 75 million hectares of forests. That's almost equivalent of the entire Forest of Washington and Oregon combined. All of humanity is admitting about 37 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Humans have been doing this for nearly 260 years. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for 300 years to 1200 years. Humans are admitting 10 times the amount of carbon dioxide versus the 55 million year paleocene eocene thermal maximum which killed off 68% of all biodiversity on planet Earth

@kmoses582 6 ай бұрын

The deadliest floods in Vermont was in 1927

@Pistolita221 6 ай бұрын

@@robertdavenport6705they blame government weather modification. They'd rather believe we do this intentionally than admit we made a big mistake. They also think the solution is degrowth, which it is not.

@user-tb2zc8du3y 6 ай бұрын

I absolutely agree! Eloquently put.

@Madmun357 6 ай бұрын

I live and work remotely in the desert southwest. By June I had enough of the heat so I decided to spend some time in Vermont to escape the heat. Had to cancel my flight and long term rental. I wish these folks the best. But I didn't know Montpellier was built in a flood plain.

@jensonee 6 ай бұрын

more than 50 years of warnings, but only now are we beginning to take it seriously.

@-OBELUS- 6 ай бұрын

The climate changes. Always has and always will. Paying huge taxes to the government won't do anything but make you poorer.

@allthewayfrom 6 ай бұрын

Good point. And the GOP still isn’t going to take it seriously.

@Ace-1525 6 ай бұрын

I forget exactly where I read it, but while doing research a few months back, I found an article from 1897 already talking about how much damage folks were worried the Industrial Revolution was going to cause future generations.

@jensonee 6 ай бұрын

i remember reading about that too. @@Ace-1525 "On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground Svante Arrhenius Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Series 5, Volume 41, April 1896, pages 237-276. This photocopy was prepared by Robert A. Rohde for Global Warming ) from original printed material that is now in the public domain. Arrhenius’s paper is the first to quantify the contribution of carbon dioxide to the greenhouse effect (Sections I-IV) and to speculate about whether variations in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide have contributed to long-term variations in climate (Section V). Throughout this paper, Arrhenius refers to carbon dioxide as “carbonic acid” in accordance with the convention at the time he was writing. Contrary to some misunderstandings, Arrhenius does not explicitly suggest in this paper that the burning of fossil fuels will cause global warming, though it is clear that he is aware that fossil fuels are a potentially significant source of carbon dioxide (page 270), and he does explicitly suggest this outcome in later work. "

@MRCATWRENCH 6 ай бұрын

It’ll be ok. There are compensatory mechanisms in nature. “Mom’s gonna fix it all soon, yeah mom’s coming back to put it back the way it ought to be”-Maynard James Keenan.

@kaze987 6 ай бұрын

Same thing happened in the Fraser Valley here in British Columbia. Fraser River overflowed and flooded homes and farms.

@fishnsyd 6 ай бұрын

This is an important reminder that the climate crisis and the affordable housing crisis are intimately linked. This video had great information, compelling personal stories, and a call to action.

@Pottery4Life 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this.

@tw8464 6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for mentioning mobile home communities. And need for affordable housing in the context of climate change. So often mobile home parks are overlooked in news reporting but your work is doing a great job bringing the right level of awareness. Keep up the good work

@0.-.0 6 ай бұрын

Love this channel, so much good info on so many topics!

@ewhays 4 ай бұрын

As a paramedic, I understand what Tom Rogers said. I live and work in a county that is unable to cope with weather and unwilling to change to improve. When there is ice and snow we no longer can transport patients to the most appropriate hospital. It's all about if we can reach it. The EMA try to fix the problem but there's not the political will, a privateized EMS system, and over half of the county's first responder and hospital jobs unfilled.

@gcvrsa 6 ай бұрын

Frankly, there was no excuse for this. After Hurricane Irene, *12 years ago*, Vermont was given a loud wake-up call that Vermonters could not continue to take Mother Nature for granted, and yet, even after the destruction of Irene, Vermont did not seriously move to abandon low-lying areas prone to flooding and rebuild on higher ground. It's time for Vermont to understand that the old ways of life are gone and must not be continued. It is time to move away from the current property tax structure toward land value taxation, and Vermonters should long ago have begun to relocate town centers that are probe to flooding to higher ground. The current tax structure, by which VT obtains about 2/3rds of all property tax revenues from building values, and only 1/3rd from land values, is the major obstacle to land use patterns that will be sustainable in the coming decades. Some areas of very valuable land, like downtown Montpelier, will no longer be valuable, while other areas that are not currently valuable will suddenly see huge increases. We have had two 1000-year flood events within 12 years, and more will be coming. Move now. There is room for sentiment, but no room for sentimentality, in reorganizing our civilization around the new realities we have created for ourselves, Vermonters more than most. Vermonters are among the highest per capita users of fossil fuels in the nation, because of the aging, poorly insulated, low density building stock mostly heated with heavy fuel oils and the rural nature of the state that requires vast expenditures of transportation fuels to be viable.

@PremierCCGuyMMXVI 6 ай бұрын

The great news is Vermonters are now willing to change and are progressive so I have faith in them.

@Emmygedden 6 ай бұрын

Quite a few of the hardest hit homes were in areas that Vermont no longer allows to develop housing, those existing homes were "grandfathered" in, so nobody was kicked out of their homes or property. The repairs from Irene held. They were only just completed this year right before this flooding. Vermont is adjusting to extreme events, but that takes time. More time than climate change will let humans adapt, much like every other living thing on this planet. Fuel use is high, but we live in a cold environment 6 months out of the year. Vermont now makes more renewable energy than we need, but upgrading the infrastructure to replace fossil fuels also takes time, money and fighting the fossil fuel industry the whole way. We have state funded insetives to weatherize houses as well. It's not like everyone is just sitting around twittling their thumbs.

@brandon9172 6 ай бұрын

@@Emmygedden "It's not like everyone is just sitting around twittling their thumbs." They aren't, but there is definitely far more that people and the government can do. This isn't a situation where we can gradually change, things need to change NOW, and they 100% can, there just isn't a political will to take necessary action. Politicians are scared of losing their seats and funding, and the average person doesn't want to sacrifice their luxuries, even if that means they'll be worse off in the long run or die.

@stellabee2026 6 ай бұрын

⁠⁠@@Emmygedden i get the feeling op also isn’t aware that we have a legitimate housing shortage as opposed to a artificial all the rent is too high for no reason one. which is fine there’s no reason to be if you don’t live here or aren’t looking too. unfortunately that means people can’t just get up and move when rarely available housing, affordable or not, gets taken within days of going on the market. it really is going to take years to get people out of the way.

@bradlevantis913 3 ай бұрын

I was at a local council meeting and few years ago. Our conservation authority recommended against a development because it was in a flood plain. This councillor, who was clearly annoyed by the report commented “Ive lived here for 50 years and it’s never flooded there”. The response was brilliant “a hundred year flood means there is a 1 in 100 chance each year. And if you offer me a lottery jackpot with 100 to 1 odds anyone would jump at that ticket”

@ronkirk5099 6 ай бұрын

I've already made up my mind to settle in Maine after I've traveled during my retirement for a couple more years.

@jonaspete 11 күн бұрын

Sad to see the state that I went to for an exchange program as an international high school student got flooded.

@ccchasm6126 6 ай бұрын

About a century or two ago the natives kept telling people all over America that it wasn't a good idea to build their towns and cities near the river or in the river beds for this reason. It's almost like the natives were right....

@soniaayala5416 6 ай бұрын

Good video.Thank you.

@jimthain8777 6 ай бұрын

PBS Terra, out of curiosity, what would happen if the things we call extreme weather, were to happen so often that they became the normal weather of a place? How often would "extreme" events have to happen before we recognized that this was the new normal in that place?

@sentientflower7891 6 ай бұрын

There is no such thing as "normal" where the Earth is headed as the climate will become chaotic and therefore no baseline for normality will exist any longer.

@eric_has_no_idea 6 ай бұрын

This is happening already. Insurance companies are revising flood maps, and hiking rates and choosing not to offer insurance to some areas. The problem is we haven't established what the new normal is because the climate patterns were relatively stable before. We had hundreds of years to go off of.

@studiosandi 6 ай бұрын

Love the result❤

@reneedemers8218 5 ай бұрын

I was a pizza delivery driver in Monpelier for years - it's always so devastating to see the results of the flood on a landscape and a city so ingrained and familiar that I had dreams of driving it's street for years after I moved. I know that mobile home community - I brought pizzas there. I can only hope that the people of my home can continue to recover, that their plans for resilience to floods are enacted before the next one.

@viperswhip 6 ай бұрын

I live on top of a mountain, in a city on top of a mountain, there are rivers and lakes, but they are down from the city. We get a bit of smoke in the summer but only inconsistently, and constant wind blows it away pretty quickly. That seems like the best solution.

@hehehehaw1682 6 ай бұрын

The best solution is to start to work to fix the damages we’ve done to this earth By packing up and moving you’re just kicking the can down the road

@antcantcook960 5 ай бұрын

You get your food, energy and supplies from that mountain? Places that likely do arent on your mountain.

@greenviolist34 5 ай бұрын

I have a soft spot in my heart for VT... A gorgeous state and such warm hearted people. I hate seeing this.

@SunnyAquamarine2 6 ай бұрын

It teaches us that the world is a person, sitting in a car in a closed garage, with the engine running and the windows rolled up. And the world has been inside the car for hours. It's already too late to save anybody or anything. Plus, the world is lovely and wonderful, but humanity sucks. The people who CAN do something that would actually help the world, will not. They actually DO want everybody unalive. They think their money will save them. 😂😂😂😢

@andreah6379 6 ай бұрын

Wait! Montpilier is a "flood zone," yet ppl are surprised it flooded?😮 What really did anybody expect here when you have been warned??!!

@medicdroidz 6 ай бұрын

Start building more forests, put beavers back into rivers and tear down the dams! :D This really has little to do with pollution as is has to do with rebuilding forested areas.

@logans3365 6 ай бұрын

For the mobile homes they could lift them onto stilts, similar to how villages in Southeast Asia build their homes to survive monsoon season, it would be a lot more expensive for a regular house though

@herahagstoz6934 6 ай бұрын

I ❤ Vermont. It’s my childhood. 😊

@ApsaraSilverwing 6 ай бұрын

My suggestion would be to have living, retail, storage, anything and everything honestly on the second floor and up. Reno the bottom floors to let water flow through and seal up the basements and cellars with cement. Where applicable for streets and pavement use pervious concrete and channels that will take the water to floodplains. I am well aware that all of that would take years, but it could be worth it. Don't fight nature; work with it.

@studiosandi 6 ай бұрын

Nowhere is safe. We get all of our food and goods from all over the country and all over the world. Where some are affected all are affected. Not to mention the fact that if an area remains relatively habitable leaving out need for food everybody will be heading there.

@kmoses582 6 ай бұрын

No time in history has had good weather, alarmist have convinced you that bad weather has been made worse because of co2. You probably don't realize Vermonts deadliest flood was in 1927.

@matthewsutphin7508 5 ай бұрын

Makes me happy, mother nature reclaims her youth.

@miamiamia888 4 ай бұрын

We had 7 inches in our living space above the basement. Was terrible and might happen again this spring

@raphlvlogs271 6 ай бұрын

climate change will always be effecting different parts of the world differently

@archer_root 6 ай бұрын

@vince9051 5 ай бұрын

I hope Charlie Os is all good! I love that bar!

@commonsense1907 26 күн бұрын

Li Bing built the Dujiangyan River Control System in 256 BC for irrigation and flood control.

@3g0st 6 ай бұрын

3:00 - 3:40 mentioned Kellogg-Hubbard library getting slammed with water, well, the cash flow will probably be coming from their institute as they cashed out about 60mil from bonds right after Oct 7th lol. Pretty opaque if you ask me.

@contrafax 6 ай бұрын

"No Where is safe." Duh.

@richardjoyce1 6 ай бұрын

"The climate is changing, why aren't we?" -- Unknown

@emp6531 6 ай бұрын

Very true, Richard. From now on, I will attribute that quote to you

@phishENchimps 5 ай бұрын

Maybe if they allow for more beaver dams it might help. Lots of beavers were killed during the flooding from when their dams broke. some thought they died from being hit by cars. But the only "road kill" the morning after the flooding were beavers and a random possum. And the bodies were torn apart and located within debris piles that were left by over floated streams and brooks.. not hit by vehicles. no vehicles were on the road that night if any . it couldn't be that bad if dozens of beaver dams collapsed and created a domino effect down river.

@charlesokeefe8788 6 ай бұрын

Great show. Compliments and suggestions. You tempo is great, calm, paced. The time length of photos and transitions was good - long holds, no flash in transitions. Like a need a hit of flash in my eyes for frontal lobe epilepsy. Hey, suggestion: biblical, quick sort, the biblical like happenings 20 yests worth .. Chronologically. Do all list, with dates in a row on a list . Tell a few biblical events or do not say biblical say Hugest ..

@bernardcharlesworth9860 4 ай бұрын

As the planet heats I could see cities like London and new York being underwater.

@kat...........ffs777 6 ай бұрын

As a Canadian, I was distracted with the pronounciation of Montpelier 😅 Re-building in flood planes at this point is a terrible idea. Park space around watersheds is the best re-build option. I hope the residents affected find happiness and economic stability soon.

@josephbelisle5792 6 ай бұрын

Frankly the problem lies in our governments. Governments that should be about the welfare of the people but instead are controlled by the wealthy. Why did we let it get this far. Things like Citizens United. Politicians who have to spend half their time chasing lobbyists who work for the wealthy. The wealthy and corporations not paying their fair share of taxes. We are humanity. We adapt to almost anything. But our lives are now in imminent danger by these wealthy people and our ability to adapt as a people is dramatically hindered by the wealthy. Most of society runs off socialism. Governments, taxes, infrastructure, utilities, defense, SS, Medicare, police, fire, etc.... yet we forget this and let the wealthy get away with murder. They bleed away our ability to deal with change. We can't solve climate change without solving the problem with the wealthy. They care no more for us other than a gauge of comparison for inequality. They are literal monsters. Sociopaths. We will not survive them if we keep this current path. The global crisis wasn't caused by you and your neighbors. It was the influence of the wealthy on our governments and our lives for centuries. Anything for more wealth.

@mdeeaonetwothree5162 6 ай бұрын

If you would like the rest of world to watch your very interesting videos, could you please put in metric conversions.

@NolocoLawrence 6 ай бұрын

An actual rational discussion about climate change and living in flood plains. Imagine that

@lifeleisuresa1229 6 ай бұрын

Climate is measured in decades, not just one year. This year was different, but NOT a sign of Climate change....

@jukeboxjuice-li8fb 6 ай бұрын

Montpelier is enclosed within the mountains also it is on a deep low ground.

@EMBer3000 6 ай бұрын

Due to past actions, our current and future options for avoiding these kinds of events are basically to build everything on solid rock, away from rivers, lakes, hills, mountains, oceans, open grassland, and forests. Due to climate change, extreme weather will be a more common occurrence, and it will cause floods, mudslides, flash floods, and fires. In Northern Climes, it is likely that a more saturated atmosphere will lead to extreme snowfall on occasion that can lead to shoddily built houses collapsing and for even well built houses to be cut off from the rest of the world for days on end until the snowplows have managed to catch up. For us in the more developed world, this will all be an inconvenience. For people in poorer areas of the world, where your next meal depends on a good harvest, this sort of weather will be deadly.

@anthonymorris5084 6 ай бұрын

Why do people think history began the day they were born? There is nothing extraordinary about today's climate.

@marygee3981 6 ай бұрын

❤in the early 1800's our ancestors were building uphill from rivers. Fast forward 70 plus years they were building downward near the rivers. Not a smart idea. Roads followed rivers, then highways. During Irene no one could go anywhere, the highway was flooded. We took back roads up the hills.

@azarahwagner2749 6 ай бұрын

Nowhere is safe because climate is changing so fast

@rickrick7895 6 ай бұрын

I got an idea, quit building in flood plains. That is short term thinking.

@TheHonestPeanut 6 ай бұрын

I know no one wants to hear this when disasters like this happen BUT flooding and drought wouldn't be a problem if properties used swails, catch basins and regenerative agroforestry instead of clearcut logging, grass lawns and monocropping. It changes quick when you work your land right.

@sukmykrok3388 6 ай бұрын

2023: summer of hell 2024: hold my beer. I'm bout to end these humans' collective careers!

@freedomishavingachoice3020 6 ай бұрын

I do not understand why homes on wheels aren't available for people in floodzones or firezones as a public good. Incredible tiny homes sells them so cheap now, and they can be stored on fairgrounds in counties when nature's emergencies occur.

@wilburshaw9330 5 ай бұрын

Help! I’m under 100 feet of ice! Oh, wait a minute. That’s where I’m supposed to be according to predictions in the 1970’s. 🤔 lol

@Ekrapf21 5 ай бұрын

Excellent

@roberthornack1692 6 ай бұрын

A hotter world is a wetter world!

@robertgifford1678 5 ай бұрын

You would think that but that's one of the not talked about subjects in the climate change narrative. There is no good data showing water vapor increases with the narratives 1.5 degree increase. The models predict it but it doesn't seem to be happening. In fact most climate models are wrong. If you dig into why it becomes apparent the we don't really understand how it all works. We don't even understand cloud formation enough to model it. We leave volcanic effects off the table as they are hard to predict. The Rainy vermont summer was likely caused by an undersea volcano in the south pacific that put huge quantities of water vapor into the upper atmosphere. Hard to prove but an interesting idea. Try saying in public that Vermont's flooding wasn't related to us burning everything and you might get hit by an electric car. That electric car was made by us burning everything by the way.

@robertwilliams570 5 ай бұрын

You know them rich folks were looking HARD for somewhere to run away to

@Piterdeveirs333 5 ай бұрын

A 100 year flood does not mean it is a flood that happens every 100 years. It means it is a flood that has a 1% chance of occurring in a year

@MichelleCarithersAuthor 6 ай бұрын

reliable mobile homes will work if they are cheaper ways of moving them and better manufacturing of their structures

@22minus13 6 ай бұрын

In Latin America that have roads called river road cause the road turns into a river once a year

@saranbhatia8809 6 ай бұрын

I guess we should adopt need based living and not greed based thereby reducing the impacts.

@genreartwithjb5095 6 ай бұрын

lol So all of you proton the comments telling homeowners not to live on a floodplain - are you gonna pay for their relocation? How do you expect them to just up and leave in the current house market? The money has to come from somewhere. It’s easy to finger wag and day “ move” but the logistics are not that simple