Climate change is literally just throwing scorpion plagues at us now

Over 500 stings were reported after flash flooding sent the insects into Egyptian locals' homes

By Andrew Paul  |  November 16, 2021 | 6:05pm
Aux Features Scorpion
Climate change is literally just throwing scorpion plagues at us now
Nope. Photo: Khaled Desouki

Back in the mid-1970s, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis introduced the Gaia Hypothesis, a controversial school of thought that (in an oversimplified nutshell) posits Earth with its myriad living organisms and ecosystems can be examined as a single, self-regulating planetary pseudo-intelligence. There are many critiques of Lovelock’s and Margulis’ initial arguments, but their influence is still felt in numerous scientific and ecological fields of study, and there’s undeniable merit to reframing our relationship to the planet with a more holistic lens…

Anyway.

A swarm of “deathstalker” scorpions surfed the waves of a flash flood into an Egyptian desert town on the eve of the Glasgow Climate Pact last week.

According to the New York Times, least 503 people were stung Friday evening as thousands of Leiurus quinquestriatus scorpions were driven from their mountain abodes following unheard-of torrential downpours that flooded the town of Aswan, destroyed homes, and killed three locals.

Although residents are reportedly “just used to” the occasional deathstalker — whose sting usually entails severe bite site pain, fever, sweating, vomiting, and diarrhea—the sharp increase in victims had local medical authorities depleting their anti-venom caches and scrounging for backup treatments.

Egypt falls within a region that is being hit particularly hard by our rapidly warming planet, and local meteorologists and climate change scientists were quick to attribute the absurdly Biblical events to our ongoing crisis.

It’s hard to think of something more on-the-nose than “flood of deathstalkers at our literal doorstep,” but it’s also terrifying to try imagining something more on-the-nose.

Burning locusts sweeping across the midwestern prairies via fire tornados? Los Angeles succumbing to a mudslide transporting the last remaining endangered mountain lions? Regardless, we’ll definitely be hunkering down whenever the next global climate summit occurs. It’s getting just a bit too obvious these days…

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