O brave new world

The unfolding tragedy of the 183-foot luxury yacht, Bayesian, sunk off the coast of Sicily in a sudden storm is, first-and-foremost, a human one but it is also emblematic of an escalating global crisis.

Whether the unexpected and violent nature of the storm can be ascribed to climate change is open to question*. But even if it were not the cause, these are precisely the unpredictable weather conditions that will become the norm and wreak havoc for everyone. 

Until now oligarchs may well have thought they could simply take to their yachts if rising sea levels swamped their beach retreats or tornadoes swept through their holiday islands. The fate of the Bayesian may give them cause to reflect.

I know very little of Mike Lynch, his wife Angela Bacares, or their guests on this doomed cruise but what is quite clear is that, despite their being among the richest people on the planet, they were not insulated from catastrophe by their wealth. 

The world they occupy may be far beyond my ken - superyachts, private jets, city penthouses, island hideaways and seafront villas not being my natural milieu - but it is obvious that even wealth calculated in billions of dollars provides little or no protection when the forces of nature are unleashed. 

These so-called 'citizens of the world' will find their golden visas offer little refuge from the inevitable  Theirs may be a lifestyle of almost boundless luxury and yet, as this terrible accident proves, they are as mortal and vulnerable as any of us when disaster strikes. 

One's heart goes out to the bereaved in this case, of course, and it is probably best to leave the specifics of this tragedy aside for now. The rescue and recovery operation is ongoing and we will find out more in due course. In the meantime, let's consider the wider implications of the case. 

Going from the particular to the general allows us to explore what, if anything, can be learned about the psychology of those billionaires who profit from maintaining the status quo of an economy based on fossil fuel extraction - in fact going beyond mere exploitation to maxing-out existing reserves -  whilst expecting somehow to remain immune from the cataclysmic consequences.

On a personal, human level, billionaire oligarchs must surely have considered the impact of their businesses and lifestyles, if not on themselves at least on their families; their children and grandchildren. If so, what's their excuse for not heeding the clear lessons of emerging events? If not, they need to wake up.

Either they are in denial and don't believe the science, much less the evidence of their own eyes, or they imagine their wealth will enable them to buy their way out of trouble. Either way they are dangerously deluded.

The 2021 film, Don't Look Up, satirised this mindset by picturing the evil oligarch leaving earth with a group of privileged friends, including the President of the United States, to colonise another planet. For those who haven't seen the movie I won't spoil the ending but, suffice to say, it doesn't go entirely according to plan. In the film, planet earth is threatened by an unstoppable meteor shower but, in reality, earth is menaced by entirely preventable human folly and greed.

In his allegorical romance of 1610, The Tempest, Shakespeare imagines a shipwreck resulting from a storm whipped up by the powerful magician, Prospero. In a chillingly prescient epilogue to the play, Prospero says:

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind.

Four hundred years later humanity stands on the brink of just such global annihilation. But there is no mighty magician to wave his wand and, without concerted and urgent action, no amount of money can forestall it.

Oligarchs would do well to take note.

*Update 21/08/24: The sea surface temperature around the southern Italian island on Monday was between 27.3C and 30.5C. Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society, said the high temperatures created a huge amount of energy, which made the storms more intense.

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