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Climate Change Brings A Prolonged Drought To Cape Town.....
and we get a glimpse of what the impacts will look like. Day Zero. That's quite a concept.
Africa’s favorite tourist city is about to run out of water
Visitors entering the city of Cape Town this year will be greeted with warning signs that veer between gentle but firm and positively apocalyptic. The city is in the grips of the worst water crisis in recent memory, complete with a countdown clock to Day Zero.
May 20, 2018 is “the day the taps will be turned off,” according to the city’s own calculations. Day Zero has moved several times, from March to May 13 after initial consumption efforts paid off. The additional week in May was thanks to some unexpected summer rain.
Last year, Cape Town was Africa’s second most visited city after Johannesburg, which is a major regional travel hub as well as South Africa’s commercial capital. But in terms of actual long-haul visitors Cape Town had the higher share with visitors from the United Kingdom, the US and Germany leading its numbers. Cape Town is already Africa’s most popular Airbnb destination city.
The city, which is renown for its coastal beauty, has many popular waterside tourist spots which could be impacted by the water shortage problems.
The language around Cape Town’s water crisis has successfully sounded the alarm in this usually laid-back city. “Day Zero” invokes a doomsday image of long queues of parched Capetonians waiting for a daily ration of water, with the city’s tourist sites reduced to arid terrain.
It’s the kind of public response to climate change that evokes panic instead of practical responses to what could be the new normal. Studies have shown that spreading fear about rising sea levels or spreading deserts makes most people play possum—or go into complete denial—instead of preparing for change.
Visitors entering the city of Cape Town this year will be greeted with warning signs that veer between gentle but firm and positively apocalyptic. The city is in the grips of the worst water crisis in recent memory, complete with a countdown clock to Day Zero.
May 20, 2018 is “the day the taps will be turned off,” according to the city’s own calculations. Day Zero has moved several times, from March to May 13 after initial consumption efforts paid off. The additional week in May was thanks to some unexpected summer rain.
Last year, Cape Town was Africa’s second most visited city after Johannesburg, which is a major regional travel hub as well as South Africa’s commercial capital. But in terms of actual long-haul visitors Cape Town had the higher share with visitors from the United Kingdom, the US and Germany leading its numbers. Cape Town is already Africa’s most popular Airbnb destination city.
The city, which is renown for its coastal beauty, has many popular waterside tourist spots which could be impacted by the water shortage problems.
The language around Cape Town’s water crisis has successfully sounded the alarm in this usually laid-back city. “Day Zero” invokes a doomsday image of long queues of parched Capetonians waiting for a daily ration of water, with the city’s tourist sites reduced to arid terrain.
It’s the kind of public response to climate change that evokes panic instead of practical responses to what could be the new normal. Studies have shown that spreading fear about rising sea levels or spreading deserts makes most people play possum—or go into complete denial—instead of preparing for change.
Read the rest here: https://qz.com/1147081/cape-town-drought-as-day-zero-approaches-the-city-needs-to-learn-to-talk-about-climate-change-not-spread-fear/
