Detroit’s bankruptcy and
climate appear, a first glance, unrelated, but the two are inextricably
intertwined.
The Detroit drama is well worth watching.
We have a ring-side seat to watch as America’s fourth
largest city in the 1950s becomes dishevelled and wrestles with disarray.
The demise of Detroit is strikingly sad and we should all
pay attention as it appears a forerunner of the dilemmas cities of the world
will face as their climates become increasingly unpredictable, people leave in
search of more stable climates, and those who remain struggle to flourish and
find contentment in a city whose infrastructure is fraying.
Detroit, known colloquially at “Motor City”, suffered, of
course, because of the 2008-9 Global Financial Crisis, but its fate seemed sealed
long before that with car buyers almost unconsciously admitting to oil scarcity
and climate change and so not eager to drive vehicles such as those rolling off
the Detroit production lines.
The American motor manufacturers had realized their folly,
too late as it turned out, that their customers no longer wanted to worsen
world oil scarcity (really they just wanted more economical vehicles that we
cheaper to operate) and they were eager to enhance their status in that they
were concerned about the environment (they wanted to be seen as “green”) – they
really simply wanted for save money and in their search for that and better
quality, turned to the Asian and European manufacturers.
In the midst of all this turmoil, there appears to be some
almost unrecognised need, or is it desire, to turn away from the brashness and
consumptive western-way of life.
Whether recognized and understood or not, there is a growing
sense among people that humanity’s survival depends upon a simpler way of
living – the absolute opposite of what was the essence of a booming Detroit
midway through last century.
That misunderstood and unconsciously sought for simpler life
stands as probably the one real chance mitigate the real driver of climate
change – our consumptive, combative and competitive behaviours.
The Detroit of today, as fragile as it is, appears to be in
the early stages of an adaptation all communities face as the reality of
climate change begin to truly bite; an adaptation which is about building
community resilience, enriching neighbourhoods, understanding its “food-shed”,
and understand that survival is inextricably linked to “loving where you live”
– meaning that everything important on a day-to-day basis is within a 10-minute
walk.
