Corporations Need to Start Thinking About Climate Change

Remember those carefree days of 25 years ago when you would go into the local travel agency to book a flight and hotel in a far off land or a strange part of this country?  They knew the good deals and they knew where were the best places to stay.  Then if you got stuck in a foreign country because of, lets say, a hurricane, they would do their best to get you home.  If you don't remember these times check out The Americans TV show, because travel agent is the front jobs that the two Soviet spies use in the series to stay off the radar of their FBI neighbor.

Those were good times when you could reach a human on the telephone and they may in fact work in the United States.  All the travel agencies including those that were fronts for spies were put out of business by the big bad on-line experience.  As has happened with record companies, book stores, and video stores, travel agents were gobbled up by big corporations who distribute that service via the internet. But are they prepared for facing down Mother Nature?

In a time of climate change when storms are bigger and more frequent, are these companies ready for once in 500 year floods, hurricanes and earthquakes that seem to happen every 10 years now?  The internet based travel companies need to hire a Vice President for Climate Change/Disasters.  Their customers are getting stuck on islands that they can not get out of or are cut off from the rest of humanity because of a flood.  They need help and right now, and corporations are not prepared to help.  They need to establish a procedure for assigning staff to get their clients into a safe place and home as quickly as possible.  They could provide a vulnerability index for how safe places are to climate change; how secure is their infrastructure; and how prepared are these places to natural disasters.   Those who want to vacation in a place with a higher vulnerability would need to pay a slight surcharge to compensate these companies for rescuing travelers.  They could set up procedures if their customers are facing a natural disaster.  They could help with relocation when a customer is dealing with no power and sporadic cell service where they are vacationing.

These companies could publish these vulnerability indexes which may prompt locals to do more to fix their infrastructure or better prepare for disasters.  Would large hotel corporations and airlines want to see a 5% climate change vulnerability fee attached to every room or seat? Tourists should not be in the way when a country or city is dealing with keeping the population safe.  There may be seasonal increases in the price of a hotel/airfare during hurricane season as a form of rescue insurance.  I would have paid more for my ticket if I could be assured that the group that booked my trip would charter a flight off the island.  They could incorporate this into their advertising..."We will get you home."  They would need to set up a special team to work to get people safe with an expertise on disaster planning and relief.  With all the epic disasters, there is a lot of expertise in the United States on evacuations and finding safety when the infrastructure collapses.

People are going to begin demanding that these companies respond appropriately as the disasters grow in strength and numbers.  They will need to put plans in place to shelter in place, evacuate, and think creatively about helping their customers.  Some of these companies are going to see the writing on the wall and then the rest will have to follow.  Other industries will have to follow as well.

By Brian Davis

Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico #3

We did not get as much build up for the Hurricane because on the same day there was the 7.2 magnitude earthquake outside of Mexico City. The cable has been out since around 8:30 a.m. which is not a big deal.  It is still rainy and windy and the Flash Flood warning lasts until 3 p.m. The guy across the street had one of his dormers blown away exposing his second floor to the elements.  He is trying to get his propane generator on to begin repairs.

The hotel evacuated our floor except for our room because the wind and rain flooded one of the other rooms with a terrace.  That also knocked out the air conditioner on our floor.  Our room is also flooded but that is a minor annoyance compared to everyone else in this country.  For some reason, the National Hurricane Center is way behind in updating their website.  I think that they were having issues because Maria went over the mountains and they could not get a good reading on wind speed.

Hard to get coffee and food because the staff were dealing with more important things.  I am just so thankful that we have power and Internet, which most of the people in Puerto Rico do not have.  Things seemed to be better prepared because they had just got stocked up from Irma.  It was really rough this last night and most of the morning.  But the worst seems to have passed us.

by Brian Davis

Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico #2

The eye of Hurricane Maria hit at around 7 a.m here, but the winds got really bad starting at around 4:30 a.m.  The tree fell across the street in the night and there is another tree hitting our building.  We discovered that our one wall is the outside wall and large items keep hitting that wall.  It seems pretty solid construction.  The hotel called to say don't come downstairs. No problem there.  We have a young infant on the floor who is remarkably calm.  They have gone out to sleep in the hall to avoid the noise.  I can't believe that the internet still works and that the cable comes and goes.  Mostly gone for the last hour and half. 

The windows are leaking a little and stuff flies by the windows, but the sound is the worst.  Sometimes it sounds like the Boeing 737 engine powering up for flight.  Other times it sounds like a way too large construction vehicle on a residential street.  You know, that low rumble of power and weight.  It is a long sustained sound that has not let up for five hours.  The neighbors lost their roof and it blew up against the lady who prayed that her house would not be destroyed.  So far so good.  The giant grey house is not doing as well with a loss of the roof and window.  The wind and rain combine for a 155 mile per hour attack on the infrastructure.  It looks like we are hunkered down for the day.  The staff at the hotel are great and extremely friendly, but I am sure they are worrying about their family and friends in the rest of the Island.

I did not get much sleep; an hour here and an hour there.  We are low on food, but should make it through the day.  The water is leaking in from outside the room.  The baby and parents are no longer sleeping outside in the hall because the hallway is flooding.  My wife was able to sleep, which I thought would be impossible.  So much water dumped on us so far and so much destruction just on our street.  This island and San Juan are going to need months to clean up from the sustained pounding of Hurricane Maria.

By Brian Davis

Hurricane Maria Update #1

Decided to go to Puerto Rico for the 25th Anniversary to celebrate in the Caribbean.  Figured we could relax, take it easy; hang on the beach.  We missed Hurricane Irma, so what are the chances that another Hurricane would hit this small island?  Tropical Storm Maria developed over the weekend when we were preparing to leave, but it could hit anywhere and could be just a bad storm one day. Delta Airlines waived the baggage fee because we were headed to an area touched by Irma.  It became a Category 5 on Monday and looked as though it would be a direct hit on San Juan PR.  We had a discussion about leaving the vacation and returning to the mainland.  We decided to ride it out here.  Hell, maybe we could volunteer with the clean up.  It would be a good story for getting a sympathetic free beer at a bar.

One thing I noticed so far is that it is nothing like what they report on CNN.  The reporters are in one fixed location and things are different all over the island.  So, it gives you a false sense of security because that is not what is happening here.  They seem to go to where the storm is the worst so looking out your window does not match what is on TV.   We walked around on Tuesday (our actual anniversary date) with all the stores closed or boarding up their places.  Took some pics of buildings that we do not think will do well in the Hurricane so that we have before and after pics.  We walked around the promenade that connects to Old San Juan next to the north east side of the Island right on the ocean.  They evacuated those hotels and they boarded up the businesses on the first floor.  We got to the Subway sandwich shop just before they were closing because they had run out of food.  We got one of the last sandwiches they were making before closing and boarding up the place.  Got some supplies from the Publix, but not anywhere near what our neighbors brought back.  Embarrassing.

We got stuck in some rain on Tuesday afternoon, but it did not start sustained rain until about 10 p.m. in San Juan.  The wind started getting up in speed about 1 a.m. and the power went out at 1:27 a.m on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  The hotel has a generator which we happen to be right on top of so that kicked in quickly.  I asked my wife to go down and tell them to turn it down so we can sleep but she refused.  The hotel is pretty modern and has concrete internal walls but it did not provide much comfort that the street flooded on Tuesday afternoon when there was only a short rain storm.  That could be a problem.  The lady across the street boarded up her house and then said a short prayer.  I hope that her prayer covers the whole street and not just her house.  She loaded up the SUV and left her house and her prayer behind.  It was comforting that the hotel staff all came to this hotel to stay and ride out the storm.  They are actually staying on our floor.  If the residents of Puerto Rico feel that this place is safe then I can sleep tonight.  Another neighbor cut down her palm tree in her front yard so that it would not fall on her house--rough.

I almost stayed right on the ocean in this hotel pictured here, but I liked the look of our current hotel in the pictures with the apartment like qualities.  I am so glad we stayed here instead of on the ocean, because I am sure those guys had to evacuate.  Cities look so cold and primitive in the dead of night without electricity. We will see how long this generator lasts or if the street floods.   The views on Sunday and Monday even from our hotels were cool, but our families keep bothering us to leave.  They keep telling us we are crazy and this is going to be our last anniversary.  The kids are also worried long distance for us, but it is an adventure or at least that is what I keep telling myself.  I am not sure we are going to be able to leave on Saturday, and the sightseeing stuff is probably shot to hell.

by Brian Davis