Hello Kitty pyjamas, clutching the door frame

A crappy photo I took from Warming and Inequality by Solomon Hsiang (The Climate Book)

I'm taking the spatula to the burnt cheese on my frying pan when my friend calls.

I've known him since the 8th grade, and we grew up together in Kentucky.

We’re boohooing the US election.

He’s halfway around the world, but we start talking apocalypse now:

The flooding. The heat. The dead animals. The California, Catalonia, all over the world wildfires.

“I’m done, dude. We need to leave,” he says.

“England is ok, but the Nordics will be better,” I say.

I start talking about this graph.

It shows the relationship between harm and temperature increases caused by climate change in different regions of the world.

I slip into something that can only be described as a TED Talk that nobody asked for:

“Countries are hit in different ways. Cold places, like Norway, may become awesome for a couple of decades, but warm places like India are getting bad now and will get worse.

Rich countries became rich by pillaging and polluting. They caused it, but poorer countries really feel it. But eventually, we’ll all be eyeing Helsinki like it’s the new Honolulu.”

My 6-year-old daughter walks in.

Hello Kitty pyjamas, clutching the door frame. Hair still damp from bath time. Curls sticking to her cheek.

“I can’t sleep, Daddy. You’re talking too loud.”

“I’m sorry, darling.” I turn off the faucet, but she’s already headed back to bed.

We really are sorry.

The adults are thinking in seconds rather than centuries, and I realise I probably won’t be able to show you the coral reefs my dad showed me.

But my anxiety feels painfully insignificant in the ocean of loss and damages.

The frying pan is clean, but I still feel dirty.

I can’t sleep either, sweetie.