If you've seen the news recently, you'll know it's flooding in Boulder. My house and all of my friends are currently fine, but because floods are incredibly rare here, houses, yards, roads and emergency services are not very flood-proof.
When we first realized that this wasn't just a bit of rain, there was a weird sense of jubilation, like the feeling of a snow day. It was reminiscent of all of my childhood fantasies of being stranded at school due to snow. In typical 20-something fashion, my roommate and I drove gleefully into the storm to rescue our other roommate from work. We stopped at a liquor store on the way back to stock up on beer. Typical 20-something emergency preparedness. We made jokes about building an ark. We were fine.
Thirty minutes and one beer later, the street in front of our house was fairly flooded. One hour later, it was completely flooded. While walking around the area surveying the damage, I ran into some neighbors of mine who were hauling rocks to the edge of the street in a desperate attempt to keep water out of their yard. I had some doubts about the efficacy of their rock wall, but I offered to help. Soon there were 5 or 6 of us moving rocks, helping our neighbors protect their yard.
The flood is by no means over, but seeing folks take time out from their gawking (because honestly, that's what we were all doing) made me feel good about humanity, and scared for the future.
WARNING, SHIT IS GONNA GET SERIOUS IN THIS POST
Because climate change is happening. I have no doubt that this flood following a summer of forest fires is yet another sign of climate change. Whether you deny it or not, we're going to have some pretty extreme weather in the future. And in order for the human race to survive, we're going to have to help out our neighbors. We're going to have to help build those walls, keep each other informed, share our food, water, and time. So know your neighbors and be prepared to help them out. Let's hope they'll do the same for you.
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