warm weather begins in march and lasts until late october in south carolina — and our summers are not for the faint of heart. my hometown of columbia, the capital city, once had the slogan of “famously hot” and still boasts the famously hot new year event and famously hot pride festival every year.

as sweaty and miserable as it can be, we think of the heat as a point of pride. if you can last through a blistering south carolina summer — packed with the thick humidity of the coastal lowcountry, 100-plus-degrees days, and mosquitos that latch to your skin — you can survive anything. the heat is part of the southern experience, and it comes with the territory. 

the weather is the reason that my mother moved to south carolina from indiana, after visiting in december and seeing people wearing shorts. it’s the reason that people visit the tourist hotspots of charleston, hilton head, and myrtle beach year round, which brings in more than $20 billion to the state’s economy. the environment is reason why the state was founded on plantation agriculture and small farming and why the coastal port of charleston became an economic hub for business and slave trade in the early 1800s.

the weather and the environment are deeply intertwined in the culture of south carolina and they cannot be divorced. in many ways, the cultural landscape of south carolina mirrors the physical landscape.

but like elsewhere, south carolina is feeling the impact of climate change. the weather gets hotter, the water level gets higher, and the hurricanes get fiercer. and yet the state government lacks a comprehensive plan to combat climate change, leaving local officials to grapple with flooding, heat, erosion, and drought in their communities. the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health and trust for america’s health found south carolina tied with louisiana, kentucky, and mississippi as the second most vulnerable state to climate change. of these four states, south carolina is the second least prepared to deal with negative health outcomes.

in 2015, south carolina faced a “thousand year flood” from record-breaking rainfall. the flood, exacerbated by outdated infrastructure and failing dams, hit columbia particularly hard, killing 19 people. in the six years since, four major hurricanes have pummeled the state, and “hurrications” away from school and work have become a new fall routine.

charleston—the coastal city that has topped travel + leisure’s “best cities in the u.s.” list for nine consecutive years—is one of the most vulnerable cities in the country to rising sea levels. the union of concerned scientists notes that charleston’s tidal flooding, or sunny day flooding, averaged six times a year in 1970 but by 2045 is projected to rise to 180 times per year. when my cousin started her freshman year at the college of charleston, she made sure to buy a new pair of rainboots so she could wade through the water that regularly inundated the downtown campus.

the warming, rising seas are killing wildlife and plant species, resulting in ghost forests where salt marshes once stood and fewer shrimp for trawlers off the coast.

and then there’s the heat. the hot, sticky south carolina summers seem to stretch longer and longer. while the heat has long been a point of pride, it is quickly becoming a source of discomfort and anxiety. extreme heat kills more than 700 americans each year; disproportionately people in low-income neighborhoods, of which there are many in the state. knowing that this is the future, i struggle to embrace the charm of the weather that i used to feel.

what happens when the “thousand year flood” comes every decade, or when the “unseasonably warm weather” becomes the new norm? 

we know that climate change will affect the physical and environmental conditions around us — although americans are still less concerned about the personal impact than people in other advanced economies — but we don’t think as much about how climate change will impact our culture. in south carolina, the weather and the landscape is the culture. it’s sweating at football games in the fall, kayaking the rivers, and smelling the salt air of the pluff mud marsh. the culture is cotton fields and their dark history, soon to go dry from heat and drought. the culture is the gullah/geechee communities in the sea islands, which are being swallowed by the ocean.

but culture, and the creativity associated with it, provides an opportunity for new solutions to climate change. and while there are practical solutions, there are also cultural and emotional adaptations that are necessary to confront the climate crisis. this means redefining historic preservation in charleston, where picturesque 150-year-old homes are being elevated to avoid the flooding that already comes more than 75 days a year. it means curbing our insatiable desire to build high-rises, beach houses, and businesses on top of salt marshes where they don’t belong. and it means listening to, learning from, and collaborating with communities that have ties to land that is being threatened. 

south carolinians have long defined their identity on the sunshine, beaches, mountains, rivers, farm fields, and heat of the state. if we care so deeply for that landscape, then we should care as deeply about the ways it’s being threatened, and how we work to find solutions.

we’re famously hot, but we’re only getting hotter. when will it be too much?

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editor’s note: check back each day during cop26 for more pieces in planet forward’s climate hits home series.“

many of the slaves were originally brought to the island by thomas spalding, who purchased the south end of sapelo in 1802. after the end of the civil war, the freed slaves stayed, purchasing land and establishing thriving settlements on various parts of the island, then eventually consolidating the communities to hog hammock. covering 427 acres, hog hammock is now home to the remaining descendants of the original slaves and is the heart of sapelo’s gullah geechee community.

the fields around hog hammock are being returned to their agricultural roots. the gullah geechee brought seeds of several african crops, such as red cow peas and okra, with them to the new world. the “geechee red pea,” which has its origins in sierra leone, is grown as a heritage crop for the hog hammock community, meaning the plants are original varieties that were grown by historic populations and not cultivated for large-scale agriculture. hog hammock residents grow these crops to sell and sustain the community and to motivate residents to invest in their own land. the sale of red pea harvests is key to increasing economic development for the island and its remaining residents, helping to preserve their lands and culture.

another heritage crop the community is trying to reestablish is purple ribbon sugar cane, which was native to java and brought to the west indies by dutch traders in the 1800s and then to the georgia coast. the sugar cane was grown on sapelo as a plantation crop and processed in a mill on the island. researchers are now helping the community replant purple ribbon sugar cane in fields in hog hammock, and the sugar cane is pressed for its purple syrup and bottled. both purple ribbon sugar cane syrup and sapelo island red peas are sold on the mainland and prized by restaurateurs for their unique flavors.

in 2017 during hurricane irma, which directly hit sapelo island, island flooding covered the majority of hog hammock and wiped out the sugar cane and other crops. changes in weather and climate such as increased frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes are increasingly affecting the island and its residents. hog hammock is at a lower elevation than other parts of the island, leaving the community more susceptible to flooding and causing enormous consequences for its burgeoning agricultural industry. with more frequent inundation of seawater, the soil and fields are becoming less yielding for farming.

sapelo island is low enough to become a massive floodplain when the high tide line exceeds the shell-banked and salt marsh edges of the island. with increasing frequency, the high tides on sapelo island significantly exceed typical high tide marks, breaching roadways, filling marshy fields, and causing flooding overall. the salt marshes can quickly become saturated with the seawater, overriding their potential to serve as flood buffers for the inner island. beyond agriculture, the inundation of saltwater into the water table and other potable water sources means residents must find new water sources.

with rising sea levels and increased flooding risks, the hog hammock community faces an uncertain future. displaying their generational resilience, residents and heritage crops continue to endure as the sapelo island gullah geechee community fights to preserve their historic lands, culture, and way of life.

but all this information is just words unless you do something about it. it’s important to recognize that regardless of where you are, you can make a difference. it’s easy to complain about the large organizations for the role they play in relief, but what is more important is that we hold them accountable. some organizations approach disaster relief with ideas already in mind, but it is up to us to tell them what the needs of the community are. we have to insist that they build a relationship with the community first, and not after. people go on vacations and seldom realize the positive the impact that tourism could have, if done correctly. keep in mind where your money will go in the community and make sure you are supporting locals rather than corporations. its also important to realize the environmental impact of vacationing and adopt the “leave no trace” mindset. the island struggling to gain access to water and food, so consider bringing your own of both, and if you’re going to bring plastic, make sure you carry it off. the struggles are not over for vieques, as climate change is only causing storms to increase. after hurricane maria, it was said that the people of vieques were very resilient, and while i’ve found this to be true, resiliency is a term used to describe things over short periods. in addition, i believe the community to be resistant. each year they go through hurricanes and tropical storms, and they still have a thriving community and this is what it means to be resistant. if we all take this lesson and apply it to the way we approach environmental problems, we can begin not to only solve problems for the short term, but find permanent solutions for reoccurring problems.

these photos and the story represent the collaborative experience of the suny college of environmental science and forestry’s students, faculty, and friends. in january of 2019, each of the people in this picture wanted to make a difference and traveled out of their comfort zones to vieques. we spent a week asking the community what they needed and getting involved. while doing so we fell in love with the island, and continue to maintain a collaborative relationship in every way we can.

it’s necessary to focus on resilience if we want to build a sustainable world. a system that lasts has to be resilient to stress. the problem is, most people know the word, but don’t understand what resilience consists of in this context. through case studies such as this one, i want to offer listeners a chance to understand the climate fight from the inside out. this isn’t a government issue, it isn’t a community issue. it’s everyone’s challenge, and i’m telling stories of resilience to showcase everyone who helps. 

civilization as we know it depends on a diversity of plants, animals and bacteria for crop pollination, food from land and sea, medicines, and for maintenance of livable temperatures. our over-consumption of earth’s resources has destroyed animal habitats, polluted the environment, and decimated wildlife populations.

humans created this crisis. we are also able to stop it. the first step is to immediately lower the levels at which we consume the earth’s limited resources. we must also break the mold of our existing approach to animal species conservation, and implement more effective solutions, ones based on the reality that the health of human beings, wildlife and the planet itself are inextricably linked. it is essential that we forge new partnerships that break the silos which currently constrain conservation efforts.

health in harmony is a planetary health organization whose conservation programs are driven by an understanding that human wellbeing is fundamentally linked to the health of surrounding wildlife, and vice-versa. to help in our efforts, we have forged critical partnerships with the places where more americans learn about our natural world than from any other: zoos.

zoos accredited by the association of zoos and aquariums (aza) provide a connection to the natural world for nearly 180 million people every year, including 51 million students. in fact, more people visit zoos annually than attend every major league professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey game in the unites states, combined.

the idea that zoos are nothing more than arks for animal species doomed to extinction is antiquated and untrue. aza zoos are at the forefront of conservation efforts that save animals in the wild from extinction. with the support of their local communities, north american zoos and aquariums have helped bring the whooping crane, the california condor and the black-footed ferret back from the brink of extinction.

this year, zoos have funded $220 million worth of conservation initiatives like health in harmony’s in indonesian borneo. zoos are critical partners in health in harmony’s efforts to preserve rain forest coverage for orangutan populations and hundreds of other species.

more than a decade ago, borneo’s gunung palung national park was losing tree cover at an alarming rate. this was mostly due to illegal rain forest logging by people in marginalized communities bordering the park, who had no other way to afford food and health care for their families. because of the resulting habitat loss, innumerable species were completely lost, while others, such as the bornean orangutan, became endangered.

health in harmony spent over 400 hours listening to people in 40 villages bordering the park. what emerged was a greater awareness of the critical connection between their health and the health of the surrounding rain forest. during our listening exercises, members of these communities designed a holistic intervention that combined health care with jobs training and a reforestation program. in the decade since, there has been an 88 percent reduction in the number of households logging rain forest inside gunung palung national park. the loss of primary rain forest has stabilized, 20,000 hectares are growing back, and – significantly – habitat for 2,500 endangered bornean orangutans has been protected.

our partner zoos around the united states are now able to integrate the story of our success within their own extraordinary orangutan exhibits. guests learn how the merger of human development and rainforest conservation protects these charismatic animals. and the zoo’s orangutans themselves magnify that understanding: guests learn through these exceptional ambassadors what is needed to protect their wild cousins, as well as other animal and plant species.

news of biodiversity loss and climate change is too often apocalyptic and dire. we have the ability to avoid a sixth mass extinction and must shine a light on these success stories. unique partnerships like the one between aza zoos and organizations like health in harmony represent an untapped resource for galvanizing efforts to reverse species extinction. zoos connect game-changing conservation efforts like ours to millions of zoo guests each year, renewing hope for a world where all people respect, value and conserve wildlife in wild places.

—

jonathan jennings is the executive director of health in harmony. jeff wyatt, dvm, is chair of the aza accreditation commission.

editor’s note: this is the second piece in our weeklong series, the stories of alaska: sustainability and resilience on a grand scale, from our storyfest 2018 winners, who traveled to alaska with lindblad expeditions and alaska airlines this summer. click though to alex’s story below, where you can watch a video documenting the resilience he discovered in the 49th state, and read his blog about his 8-day experience aboard the national geographic sea lion.

nature
wondrous, grand
giving, stunning, hurting
scarred from lifetimes of deep neglect
mother

cities
powerful, clout
bustling, swarming, living
responsible to change the world
impact

streetlights
bright, everywhere
shining, revealing, welcoming
needed but right now quite wasteful
misused

solar
gift, prevalent
powering, driving, innovating
our world needs to run on solar
future

to tell my story, i decided to write several cinquain formatted poems and string them together. my final product tells the story of a hurting world in which the key to survival is found in the power of cities. cities are powerful because of their sheer size and energy, but the innovation to drive our planet forward is much less noticeable: streetlights. traditional streetlights are vulnerable to natural disasters, powered by dirty fuel, and are inefficient (some estimates say traditional streetlights lose 40% of their light to the sky, as opposed to illuminating the ground).

meanwhile solar street lights are completely off the grid and are powered from totally renewable energy. all solar street lights use led light bulbs, which can be up to 70% more efficient. they are extremely resilient, continuing to work during natural disasters while anything connected to the grid is left inoperable. they can even offer a helping hand during these disasters because, if installed correctly, the light post can become a charging station for aid workers and vital equipment.

the simple beauty of solar street lights isn’t that they save money, conserve energy, emit less emissions, or their resilience. the simple beauty of solar street lights is that they are universal. they can be installed in a developed country to replace aging infrastructure or in a developing country in which traditional infrastructure has never existed. this inclusiveness is very rare to find in an innovation, which is why solar street lights could prove to be so important.

in order to properly repair the damage done to the natural environment, cities must use their influence and size to lead the sustainability movement. an integral part of this movement can be achieved through solar street lighting, which if powered by cities, will leave the world a little bit brighter than it was yesterday.

as experts in assessing, quantifying and transferring risk, the insurance industry is a natural partner for the federal government as it looks to manage extreme weather vulnerability. the briefing included the industry’s response to the growing number of very costly climate-related disasters and considered how public-private collaboration can help manage risk and guide policy to promote long-term resiliency.