We cannot discuss addressing natural disasters unless climate change is completely included in the conversation.
Last week, Hurricane Harvey devastated the greater Houston Metropolitan area and doused the region with such severe rainfall that new colors had to be added to the National Weather Service's precipitation color key. The extent of the damage isn't fully known yet but from what we've seen people's livelihoods and entire lives have been destroyed, infrastructure damaged, and unfortunately, lives lost.Houston and the affected areas around it will be rebuilding for months if not years, and for those who lost everything the future is still very uncertain. There will be issues of sanitation, hazardous materials, rehousing, and getting the back to function as a region, and luckily many are standing up to help as much as they can and in as many ways as possible.
While donating supplies and helping the very real victims of the disaster we must resist from ONLY doing that. Yes, hurricanes frequently happen in the Gulf of Mexico, it's warm water temperatures and location allow for the perfect conditions for hurricanes to form and build up power within, and while hurricanes have been disastrous in the past we haven't seen anything like Harvey. The increased temperatures in the gulf due to global temperature increases allowed the storm to become stronger, and the possibility of catastrophic rain occurring to become that much greater. Sea level increases, as well as severe amounts of rain, makes storm surges that much more damaging, submerging houses, businesses, schools, and places of work underwater.
We are doing ourselves a disservice by not being political, by not bringing climate change into the equation. Unless we address that storms will be more catastrophic in a world with increased temperatures we cannot fully address how to prepare and respond accordingly to increasingly disastrous storms. Acknowledging that factor is a key to preparedness for the next time something like Harvey Happens... which could, unfortunately, be very soon.
