Logbook 3. Jan. 2019 – Researching consequences of sea level rise

Drawing storm surges and climate change

Text and drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt. FritsAhlefeldt.com

Thoughts after another storm surge here in Denmark yesterday flooding houses, harbors and landscapes in the southern part of the flat country

I’ve been working with how we can face climate change and sea level rise for more than 20 years, drawing up ideas, visualizing and understanding solutions to face the challenges of extreme weather mostly for the state and for large NGO’s.  But  in those years, and of all those projects that so many of us have been participating in, very little has sadly made any difference.

Today I’m still sketching climate solutions, and more and more I’ve come to believe that we need to change our mindsets more than to innovate technical solutions and prototypes. We need to start living a very different understanding of what we need and what it means to have a good life. And most of all I keep coming back to one simple thing that can make a huge difference…  We need to start walking much more as the simple “less is more” logic of walking combine both better health, thrive and sustainability, in ways that builds more resilient and stronger communities.