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Scientists have often framed climate change in terms of the future; but for many people, that watery future is already here, reports Orb Media In the morning, before she left for work, Ambika Thankappan called her son Arun to tell him their world was about to drown. “It’s already flooded to the nearby villages,” she told him in a calm voice. “And it’s starting to reach our village.” “I’ll be there in an hour,” he replied. Arun jumped on his motorbike and set off toward their home. But the water was already a foot-and-a-half deep. And it was rising fast. If he didn’t get there in time, it would swallow everything they had worked their lives to build: their home and everything they loved, including Messi, their face-licking yellow dog. On a normal day, Arun would be working at a shop at the Cochin International Airport. Ambika would be working at the same airport, collecting trolleys and lining them up for travellers; a man named Wilson Perez would be picking tomatoes in Immokalee, Florida; and in Toronto, two men named Klever Freire and Gabriel Otrin would be doing something that 81 million people do, every day, without expecting to fight for their lives: taking an elevator. But August 15, 2018 was not a normal day for Arun and his mother. That morning, after three days of non-stop heavy rain, the water began to rise. And rise. It took Arun a frantic two-and-a-half-hour ride, over flooded roads, to reach home. He was relieved to find their house still dry. So he went to check on their neighbours in the lush, green, low-lying acres behind the Cochin airport. But inside the airport, the water was rising. Arun climbed up on the wall to get a better view. Suddenly, panic kicked in: The water would reach their house within minutes. Messi, and everything they owned, would be swept away. Until now, scientists have often framed climate change in terms of the future: cities that will be underwater by the year 2050, the year 2100 or the next 50, 100 or 200 years. But for a growing number of people, that watery future is already here.
