“So long in the study of climate change, we are studying the future,” says Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. “And now the future is here. If we live here in Texas, we will see stronger and bigger and slower hurricanes with a lot more rainfall. If we live in the west, we will see natural wildfires burn bigger and larger area. If we live in living in the Midwest, warmer temperatures are replacing our rainstorms. “
But seeing the Republican National Convention, if you did not know it, you would never know.
“Joe Biden’s Democratic Party is pushing this so-called ‘Green New Deal,'” Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst in a pre-recorded speech. She mocked Democrats’ efforts to legislate the climate crisis after referring to the August 10 derecho that tore apart ten million acres of their state. “If power were given, they would essentially ban animal farming and gas-powered cars. It would destroy the agricultural sector not only here in Iowa, but all over the country.”
“How much does the 2018 Camp Fire cost, just to fight? Just to put out the flames?” I asked Government Newsom after strong winds made Camp Fire the most destructive field in state history. “It falls on the jaw – the numbers – and they keep escalating,” Newsom replied. “Exactly the removal of puns is in multi, not billion, multi-billion-dollar costs.”
The second and third largest fires in state history are now burning at the same time and the wine season has not even begun yet. “People think, well, we can not afford to tackle climate change,” says Newsom. “My goodness. The naivety of that. Because the most expensive option does nothing.”
“How was climate change so politically polarized?” Freget Hayhoe. “It’s not the science, it’s the solutions. We’re told the only solutions to climate change are negative or punitive. They include destroying the economy, throwing people out of work and letting the United Nations rule the world.”
Blurred by this message, she says Americans miss how much progress is happening between disasters. “They do not know that 70% of the new electricity now being installed around the world is clean energy. They are not aware that solar energy plus storage is actually cheaper than natural gas in California. Or that Texas has more wind energy. has as one other state in the country.Or that Texas has the first carbon-neutral airport in DFW, and Ft. Hood, the largest military base in the US is fully supplied by wind and solar energy.The reality is that the solutions here already are. ”
But when Hayhoe sees the solutions, others see the pain along the way.
“It will get worse before we get better,” said Lieutenant General Russel Honoré. “We need to find solutions to pollution that will drive the future economy.”
“Right after Katrina we had Rita. A reporter asked me, ‘We just had two hurricanes. Do you think that has to do with global warming?’ “I was shocked. I gave her some clever answer, but it haunted me for days,” he says.
At the time, the Department of Defense was keen on the threat of sea level rise to bases around the country, but the question suddenly made science personal, as Honoré saw his own beloved bayou communities drowned out for lack of official planning and imagination.
Fifteen years later, Honoré spends most of his time thinking about repairs for the Gulf and the nation he serves.
“We can start by fixing our infrastructure. Let’s adjust the damage, create jobs that reduce the impact on the air and the water and the land. I think we need to have adult dialogue, regardless of any political class. , “he said,
Taking action is critical for people like Hayhoe.
“There is no right answer in how to solve climate change,” she says. “There’s no silver bullet either. Just a lot of silver box.
“But we are all responsible for our families, for our loved ones, for our children, for the poor and the marginalized and the vulnerable right here where we live, as well as for the whole world to get our heads out of the sand to “Recognize that climate change. People are responsible. The consequences are serious. And we can act now. No matter who we are and how we vote.”
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