The dawn of a tough new era
A society’s cohesion can be measured by how it acts in the wake of a disaster. Apart from the state mechanism and its limited ability to tackle the consequences of the climate crisis, the resilience of a country, for its part, can be measured by its ability to adapt to this new situation.
For some years now, the climate crisis has ceased to be the subject of theory and become a very real phenomenon. It marks a new chapter in global history, creating a situation of adapt or perish. And this adaptation is not just about people as individual units or the institutions that have been built, but also about the very foundations underpinning modern societies, including the Greek one.
Ever since the 18th century when the ideological foundations of the modern European nation-state were laid, it has been argued that people’s attitudes and behaviors are shaped by three things: the climate, religion and government. Needless to say that the first, namely climate, influences the psychological and empirical core of each individual. The climate crisis is unfolding at a time when humankind has developed the ability to completely self-destruct (through nuclear force) and (through artificial intelligence) to radically reshape the social structures that it has evolved since we were hunter-gatherers.
These are changes that far surpass any state structure, and even more so the antiquated Greek state. At the same time, however, it is also important to stress that the effects of climate change are a harsh reality that should not be exploited for vulgar propaganda to convince the public that some things simply cannot be avoided.
The truth is that the floods on the Thessaly plain were beyond anything Greece has ever experienced. However, it is also true that three years after the country was lashed by the storm dubbed Ianos, the work needed to strengthen the relevant infrastructure was either never done or was done in a slipshod manner.
Life has certainly taken a dystopian turn since 2010.
The economic meltdown undermined the foundations of our democracy just as it had started to stand firmly on its feet. The surge of immigration from the east, the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the sense that violence is making a comeback in Europe as part of a new historical cycle are already too much to be downplayed by anyone. The climate crisis is the common denominator – and things are not about to get easier.
