IO’s week: not everyone fits on Noah’s Ark

By Aafke Eppinga

Each week, in our Sunday newsletter, we look back on the past seven days. Regarding content, we always do so at the initiative of our cartoonist, Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.

Storm Boris

Flooding in Europe is a “clear reminder of the growing threat of climate-induced extreme weather events,” Sissi Knispel de Acosta, the European Climate Research Alliance general secretary, said this week.

Storm Boris caused five times as much rainfall in four days as the average for September. In six central European countries, these floods led to mass evacuations of cities as the water continued to rise. More than 20 people have been killed by floods in Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria, and many others have been missing since the heavy rains began. Thousands of people in Hungary and Slovakia were displaced.

Storm in The Hague

Last week, The Hague had a furious debate about the cabinet plans presented during Budget Day. Earlier, Guus Dix and Martijn Duineveld wrote in this opinion piece for Dutch newspaper NRC that the coalition agreement of PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB can be “celebrated” as a victory of Dutch (fossil) big business over much-needed climate ambitions.

Yes, directly linking climate change and extreme weather is going too far. But climate change does affect extreme weather events. While the floods of recent times prove once again that climate change is getting closer and closer, the subject is drifting further away from our new government in The Hague. A similar development is taking place in our neighboring country, Elcke writes in her feature on the German state elections.

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Germany votes (far) right: implications for innovation and climate

German state elections are in full swing. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) party made significant gains in Saxony and Thuringia. Elections in Brandenburg will follow on Sept. 22. The shift to the far right affects local politics in these states, but perhaps beyond.

Looking ahead

All right, Innovation Origins wouldn’t be Innovation Origins if we didn’t also look ahead to solutions and innovations that can help protect us from these natural hazards. So, colleague Thales asked Niko Wanders, professor of hydrology at Utrecht University, how cities can prepare for extreme weather events.

Still, I also wanted to reflect on this topic in this newsletter. How close does climate change have to get before we realize that this is a reality from which we, too, cannot escape?