I notice an unexpected and brutal acceleration of climate change and its consequences, validating more and more hypotheses raised in this blog since its birth three years ago. The early winter, marked by relatively low temperatures over an extended period, was compensated by a scorching summer that proved to be one of the hottest in history. At sight of the past three years, I am surprised by the pace of climate change happening in the extremely short time of the Anthropocene. The two millennia of human history and even more the two centuries of the industrial era covering the period during which the causes at the origin of climate change were exerted, are nothing compared to the geological time. But what is extraordinary is the time scale over which the consequences of the phenomenon are occurring. The acceleration is dizzying to the point that climate change is now perceptible over a time step of less than 1 generation only. The observer aged over fifty that I am, is struck by the increasing frequency of occurring of aberrant meteorological events and especially the fact that the media are increasingly often reporting new absolute temperature records. It is in the timeframe of the last decade that acceleration is tangible for those who pay attention to the news and who look at the sudden transformations of their environment. As I live in the Alps where the phenomenon is twice as faster as elsewhere and as I am passionate about nature and outdoor sports, I feel « sick for my planet » to the point to be suffering from acute eco-anxiety and to recognize myself in the definition of the collapsologist, although my nature is positive and optimistic.

However, mankind seems to be getting used to the phenomenon (clearly affected by the frog syndrome that Al Gore mentioned during his conferences on climate change) and keep on walking more and more on its head. At a time when the good new of a decline of the world’s population seems to be true, the fever of the SUV and the motorhome is booming in the developed world while attraction of the so-called advanced countries for the motorcycle has never been so strong for our individualistic society affected by an irrepressible consumer fever. At same time, the American-style land-use planning model is becoming standard in France with young households moving away from city centers to settle in pavilions with gardens and swimming pools whenever possible, with an increased footprint as well as a need of motorized transport means. Moreover, the market for apartments is exploding in our increasingly large cities where we never stop razing houses to build new block of flats. The dynamic of space sterilization has never been so strong, as shown by the expansion of highways and other shopping centers that are spreading as the former abandoned commercial and industrial wastelands are deserted.

At same time, the positive signal of a mass return to nature since the covid, put the question of hyper-frequentation of our wild spaces. This leaves less and less room for wildlife whose access to water is threatened by the explosion in the number of campers who now frequent high-altitude lakes to escape overheated cities. Encouraged by car sharing and the growing success of electrically assisted mountain biking, more and more people from cities are letting themselves be carried away to these destinations that were once reserved for trained and determined walkers. As in the city where the increase in number of motorized bicycles and scooters is clearly out of control, I notice that instead of replacing CO2-emitting transportation means, electric 2-wheelers seem to push a significant part of the population to stop cycling or even worse, to move more. Ultimately, that’s clear we will have no other alternative than to regulate the number of visitors who will have access to natural areas.

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