It's not politics, it's survival

Tarragona"We are rapidly approaching the limits of the Earth," warned 1,500 scientists and economists from 70 different countries in 1992. Among the signatories were half of the Nobel Prize winners in science and economics who were alive at the time. Clearly, ignoring them was a bad idea. And now we're paying the price. The harshness of weather events is one of the consequences of the climate crisis caused by global warming, which has worried scientists for decades. The drought that only a year ago forced us to turn off the tap will return. And the ferocious storms that hit the Valencian Community last year or Montsià last week will also return.

After the lamentable performance of Carlos Mazón during the Valencian Community's drought, it has become clear that politicians have taken note and, at the slightest warning from the Meteorological Service, they activate everything necessary. Citizens have also learned their lesson. I'm convinced that if the recent storms on Montsià haven't claimed any lives, it's because people now know there's no point in getting distracted. We're all clear that if the street below our house suddenly turns into a river and threatens to sweep our car away, we shouldn't go downstairs and play the hero. And if water starts pouring in through the door or window, what we should do is flee. It's cost us 230 lives, but we've understood.

However, we still have unfinished business. In addition to parrying the blows however we can, we must try to reverse the situation. The scientists and economists who signed that document in 1992 proposed several ideas: reducing the use of fossil fuels, halting the growth of the planet's population, promoting equality between men and women, and reducing or eliminating poverty. 33 years after that document, we have an economic model based on the consumerist logic of more, the better, and sexist and racist attitudes are on the rise. At some point, we'll have to understand that it's not politics anymore, it's survival.