Academia in the storms’ path: the new hurricane season

What might the climate crisis mean for higher education’s future?

I’m writing this post very much in the present, as parts of the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean are reeling from multiple, literally extraordinary hurricanes. Helene trashed several American states, which haven’t fully recovered. Milton is storming into Florida now, where debris left over from Helene adds potential projectile threats to the looming disaster. Disaster piles on disaster.

The speed and devastation of these hurricanes is historically unusual. Milton’s size and speeds grew beyond all expectations. Indeed, some have considered opening up a new hurricane category — 6 — to describe it.

And that’s not all. As climate change hero Bill McKibben observes,

For the first time ever recorded, October finds three hurricanes spinning simultaneously in the Atlantic. Hot new world

(Meanwhile, the least cold bit of Antarctica saw vegetation grow fourteen times over the past generation. “Hot new world” indeed. Global weirding, my preferred term, again.)

When it comes to higher education, Hurricane Helene hit a series of colleges and universities in North Carolina (among other things and people), causing all kinds of damages: downed trees, broken buildings…