Von der Porten, who had been struggling with depression, had a reputation for integrity and community-mindedness. Similar tragedies have been dotting the landscape in Europe, as a stark financial climate has left many investors and small business owners grappling with overwhelming levels of debt.
In a recent stark report by Climate Central, projections have shown that climate change could see the city of New Orleans under water by the year 2100.
This is the stark conclusion of climate experts who have analysed submissions in the runup to the Paris climate talks later this year.
So we are left with a stark choice: allow climate disruption to change everything about our world, or change pretty much everything about our economy to avoid that fate.
Devastating floods, droughts and famine, mainly affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor and black communities in developing countries, is the stark reality of climate change already.
Weather may fade, but pictures of post-drought west Texas, hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and submerging countries such as Tuvalu are a stark reminder that climate change carries not only an economic or environmental toll, but also a human one.
The stark future of climate change will be this.
The speech was spluttered with self contradicting statements that deftly obfuscate from the stark reality of climate change and why India's inaction can prove very costly to its people.
Oil major Shell is making a reckless push into the Alaskan Arctic, blind to the logic that sees melting sea ice as a stark warning of climate change, not a business opportunity.
How will we cope, not just with keeping the water out of the kitchen, but in our heads, if the gloomiest of our mythical stereotypes of Britain's climate becomes stark reality?
