Looking Irma In the Eye – Time for Political Resolve
Hurricane Irma, north shore of Cuba, Sept 9, 2017 – NASA GOES satellite image
Irma invited,us to look her in the eye. With record sustained winds of 185 miles per hour, this Category 5 hurricane killed dozens, scraped some Caribbean island nations clean of nearly all structures and then tauntingly threatened one coast of Florida and then the other. Of course recovery will be long and challenging.
Looking at the powerful visual above, I can’t avoid the image that this force of nature is summoning our gaze, or perhaps staring us in the eye.
And less than two weeks ago Hurricane Harvey was in the Gulf Of Mexico, also with a well-defined eye. Another monster that commanded our attention and had a powerful message. Parts of the greater Houston area are still flooded posing catastrophic problems for residents, for our petroleum refining capacity, and for the nation.
Looking someone in the eye is said to look deep in their soul, unfiltered. What is the message? My take would be:
- As scientists have said for decades, warming the planet will change weather patterns, increase storms, rainfall, and wildfires, melt glaciers and raise sea levels.
- It is time — actually past time — to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a high priority to reduce the warming ASAP.
- We must also begin designing for worse short-term coastal flooding from extreme storms, unprecedented rainfall and extreme tides –– as well as the longer term problem of rising sea levels, that may be slowed, but can no longer be stopped.
it’s as good a time as any to ‘draw a line in the sand’ and tell American political leaders that climate change is a threat to our economy and will govern how we vote in the future. (This is a US focused message, since we stand alone with political leadership still singing the climate denial song.)
Most US politicians still are playing games on the topic. EPA Secretary Pruitt recently said about Irma, that “This was not the time to talk about climate change.” Political poppycock. Since taking office, he has flatly said he does not accept that CO2 emissions are related to climate change. Is he suggesting he will pose the question in a week or two? Or perhaps he will appoint a new committee to study the question, to replace the climate advisory panels the Administration has just disbanded. Or maybe they will appoint a special commission, a time-tested Washington technique to study something over a year or more, then accept the report and do nothing. We have perfected delay, denial, and distraction.
As the Editors of the New York Times wrote today (September 10), this administration is systematically eviscerating all programs dealing with climate change from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Department of Interior, and the Department of Energy.
At the state level, Florida Governor Rick Scott, also deflects on the issue of climate change, saying “I am not a scientist.” Yet he can create and endorse policies about agriculture and health practice without being an agronomist or medical doctor. Why the difference? Because fossil fuels and big money exert so much political influence.
Enough of the political ‘two-step’ from Congress, the White House, the State Houses. I was pleased to see one new voice on the subject this week. Impending disaster from Hurricane Irma gave the Mayor of Miami a new voice. Mayor Tomás Regalado (a Republican) told reporters Friday after declaring a State of Local Emergency in his city….
“If this isn’t climate change, I don’t know what is.” saying it is time for the White House and the EPA to face reality.
I urge all Americans to help all elected leaders to see what is now clear to the Mayor of Miami.
A warmer planet sounds pleasant and perhaps benign, until we realize the realities: extreme storms, record rainfall, wildfires, melting ice and rising seas.
We should look the images of Irma and Harvey in the eye––and also in the eye of the families devastated by the storm. And then look in the mirror and ask:
Are we taking this seriously? Are we doing all that we can and must?