Flood as permacrisis. Response-Ability, and the Politics of Water

This article analyzes the 2024 flood in Poland as an expression of permacrisis—a chronic, human-accelerated condition rather than a singular natural event. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Lower Silesia and along the Oder River, it examines how anticipatory planning (Cons 2018) shapes emerging responses and forms of response-ability. These are framed through competing discourses: techno-response-abilities (infrastructure, state control), eco-response-abilities (wetlands, ecosystems), and grassroots readiness as an embodied practice. While public attention favored spectacular techno-solutions, ecological processes operated quietly, yet effectively. The flood foregrounded fundamental questions of response-ability—who and what will be included in future adaptation strategies, and who or what will be excluded.