{"id":315,"date":"2020-06-25T08:44:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T07:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersrebel.com\/?p=315"},"modified":"2020-06-25T09:01:25","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T08:01:25","slug":"floodsandplagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things<\/span>Edward Platt<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the sun started shining, earlier in the month, I couldn\u2019t decide whether it made lockdown harder or easier to bear. To begin with, the answer seemed obvious: even people who don\u2019t have a garden or a balcony could still get to a park for their daily exercise, and those that had to self-isolate could open the windows, and let the spring scents of cut grass and dusty tarmac transport them somewhere else. Yet as the days passed, and the sun kept shining, I started to resent confinement more and more. I wanted to get out of London: I wanted to go to the beach or go for a walk without wondering if I was running out of time. \u00a0I wanted to enjoy the uncomplicated pleasure of the early summer heatwave, and I had to remind myself that even in normal times – if by normal, we mean \u2018non-Covid\u2019 \u2013 that isn\u2019t possible anymore: the days when anything to do with the weather seemed uncomplicated are gone. I can\u2019t remember when I started checking the date, and wondering whether it was normal for it to be so hot in April, or for May to pass without a drop of rain, but I know it has become so instinctive I hardly notice myself it anymore.<\/p>\n

The uncomfortable feeling that the weather isn\u2019t behaving as it should is particularly strong this year, for only six weeks have passed since we were besieged by rain of the kind that is normally described as \u2018Biblical\u2019. The flooding started in October, in the North of England, and soon spread to other places: Storm Dennis, the 13th named storm to hit the British Isles in the winter, swept through southern England and Wales in the middle of February \u2013 which would prove the wettest since records began in 1766. Yet the water had hardly gone down before another of the age-old threats recorded in Genesis took its place: the plague came, and the floods were forgotten.<\/p>\n

They always are – there is usually flooding in the winter, and often in the summer, as well, and yet it still seems to take people by surprise: \u2018floods are forgotten \u2013 until the next one occurs,\u2019 Peter Ackroyd said of the Thames, which has flooded throughout its history, and will flood even more regularly in the coming years. When my book, The Great Flood: Travels through a Sodden Landscape<\/em>, came out last October, people treated me as if I was some kind of seer: they weren\u2019t insensitive enough to say well, it\u2019s great for you, but they did say, half-seriously, \u2018How did you know?\u2019 – as if there was anything remotely improbable about the floods. That amnesia was one of the reasons I had decided to write the book: I was fascinated by our ability to ignore climate change, though we could all see it happening, in real time, and in tangible ways.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t – and still don\u2019t – exclude myself from blame. The changes weren\u2019t gradual: I couldn\u2019t pretend I hadn\u2019t noticed them.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t need the statistics to confirm what my senses told me: the wet spring days I grew up with are now so rare that every time I open the front door to the fresh, cool smell of a world rinsed by rain, I feel like I am seven years old again. This year\u2019s swing from February floods to April heatwave was particularly extreme, but the pattern has been set for years: so why haven\u2019t I been demanding action? That\u2019s why I was so relieved and excited by the arrival of Extinction Rebellion – above all, by the first of its three demands, which asserts the need for honesty and transparency as the starting-point: people need to be constantly reminded of the scale of the threat we face, if we are to overcome the natural instinct to carry on as normal.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know whether we will react to the coronavirus in the same way, and attempt to put it behind us as fast as we can. For the time being, we don\u2019t have the luxury of being able to ignore it, though the pressure to resume our old ways of life is growing all the time. Some of that is understandable: there are aspects of lockdown that no-one will miss.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to think how long it might be before I see family or friends again. I\u2019m lucky, because I live with my wife and children: that creates moments of tensions, of course, but I wouldn\u2019t want to be without the warmth and intimacy of family life. Those who are ill, and those who are looking after them, are worst affected by the pandemic; but I also feel for people who live alone, unable to kiss or hug\u00a0\u00a0or touch anyone at all – and I worry that the habit of distancing will become engrained again, recreating the emotional and physical barriers that used to be an integral part of English life.<\/p>\n

But perhaps good things will come out of it as well. Already, some of them are apparent – at least to those not affected by illness or unemployment or struggling to get enough to eat: for some, at least, there is a gentler, less frenzied pace of life, and for everyone, there are reductions in emissions and improvements in air quality, which show how easy it to shut off our polluting economy, if we want to. Perhaps even more significant changes will follow.<\/p>\n

One thing is clear: containing the pandemic in both the developed and the developing world will require global cooperation of a kind we have rarely seen before. Applying the lessons learnt in South Korea and Germany and elsewhere is only the start: it will also require a massive redistribution of resources. It sounds unreasonably idealistic to say that a kinder, fairer world may emerge from the pandemic – but it may be one of the consequences of bringing it to an end. If it spreads through refugee camps or war zones in the Middle East, or densely crowded cities in India or Pakistan, then it will be back here before we know it. Covid anywhere is Covid everywhere, people say: you can\u2019t fix it in one place and not another, and by revealing the interconnected nature of the world, it might define a mindset and a means of cooperation that will help in the fight against climate change, which ultimately poses a much greater threat to our occupation of the planet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Edward Platt<\/strong> was born in 1968 and lives in London. His first book, Leadville<\/em>, won a Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. He is also the author of\u00a0The Great Flood: Travels through a Sodden Landscape,\u00a0<\/em>which explores the way floods have shaped the physical landscape of Britain, and\u00a0The City of Abraham<\/em>, a journey through Hebron, the only place in the West Bank where Palestinians and Israelis live side by side. He is a regular contributor to various magazines and newspapers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the sun started shining, earlier in the month, I couldn\u2019t decide whether it made lockdown harder or easier to bear. To begin with, the answer seemed obvious: even people who don\u2019t have a garden or a balcony could still get to a park for their daily exercise, and those that had to self-isolate could […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things<\/span>Edward Platt<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[8,19,22,21,20,23],"yoast_head":"\nRead: Floods and Plagues and Other Things - Writers Rebel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things - Writers Rebel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the sun started shining, earlier in the month, I couldn\u2019t decide whether it made lockdown harder or easier to bear. To begin with, the answer seemed obvious: even people who don\u2019t have a garden or a balcony could still get to a park for their daily exercise, and those that had to self-isolate could [...]Read More... from Read: Floods and Plagues and Other ThingsEdward Platt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writers Rebel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writersrebel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-25T07:44:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-25T08:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/thumbnail_ED-Portrait-2019-1-5-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1105\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"toby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@XrRebel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@XrRebel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"toby\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"toby\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1605c51fa616ac808b536d7f5d646634\"},\"headline\":\"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other ThingsEdward Platt\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-25T07:44:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-25T08:01:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\"},\"wordCount\":1197,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"COVID-19\",\"Edward Platt\",\"flooding\",\"floods\",\"plague\",\"The Great Flood\"],\"articleSection\":[\"read\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\",\"name\":\"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things - Writers Rebel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-25T07:44:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-25T08:01:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other ThingsEdward Platt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/\",\"name\":\"Writers Rebel\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Writers Rebel\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-21-at-2.25.35-PM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-21-at-2.25.35-PM.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":137,\"caption\":\"Writers Rebel\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writersrebel\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/XrRebel\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1605c51fa616ac808b536d7f5d646634\",\"name\":\"toby\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/tobylitt.com\"],\"url\":\"#molongui-disabled-link\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things - Writers Rebel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things - Writers Rebel","og_description":"When the sun started shining, earlier in the month, I couldn\u2019t decide whether it made lockdown harder or easier to bear. To begin with, the answer seemed obvious: even people who don\u2019t have a garden or a balcony could still get to a park for their daily exercise, and those that had to self-isolate could [...]Read More... from Read: Floods and Plagues and Other ThingsEdward Platt","og_url":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/","og_site_name":"Writers Rebel","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writersrebel\/","article_published_time":"2020-06-25T07:44:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-25T08:01:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":1105,"url":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/thumbnail_ED-Portrait-2019-1-5-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"toby","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@XrRebel","twitter_site":"@XrRebel","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"toby","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/"},"author":{"name":"toby","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1605c51fa616ac808b536d7f5d646634"},"headline":"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other ThingsEdward Platt","datePublished":"2020-06-25T07:44:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-25T08:01:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/"},"wordCount":1197,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["COVID-19","Edward Platt","flooding","floods","plague","The Great Flood"],"articleSection":["read"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/","url":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/","name":"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other Things - Writers Rebel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-06-25T07:44:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-25T08:01:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/floodsandplagues\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Read: Floods and Plagues and Other ThingsEdward Platt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/","name":"Writers Rebel","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#organization","name":"Writers Rebel","url":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-21-at-2.25.35-PM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-21-at-2.25.35-PM.jpg","width":300,"height":137,"caption":"Writers Rebel"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writersrebel\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/XrRebel"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1605c51fa616ac808b536d7f5d646634","name":"toby","sameAs":["http:\/\/tobylitt.com"],"url":"#molongui-disabled-link"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writersrebel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/thumbnail_ED-Portrait-2019-1-5-1.jpg?fit=1280%2C1105&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1153,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/1153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}