Suddenly the term “climate change” is all the rage.
As Hurricane Sandy wrecked the east coast of the United States at the end of October, American politicians mouthed concern about the need to deal with causes of extreme weather that have been battering their nation.
U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting New York and other areas of the coast damaged by the storm, said he recognized that this was an issue that had to be dealt with and that “climate change is a threat to our children’s future.”
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg chipped in to politically support Obama, throwing his backing behind the president for a second term, and stressing that for his constituency, climate change has to be taken seriously.
“Our climate is changing,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be – given this week’s devastation – should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.”
As New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof said “if we can’t see that something extraordinary is going on in the world around us, we’re in trouble.”
Kristof had good reason for concern as he lives in the disaster area. Trying to keep in touch with the electrical power down at his own home, he envisaged a candlelit aftermath of a future hurricane where America’s electorate pause and look back at the U.S. presidential candidates’ silence about climate in the 2012 election and ask: “What were they thinking?”
Indeed.
Wake up call
It took a superstorm to wake up America. This was not “the weather as usual.”
The facts, as best we can judge them from the scientific evidence and general consensus, are that Hurricane Sandy mutated into a superstorm due to a number of factors including man-made climate change. And we can expect more of the same or worse.
Joe Romm, writing in Think Progress, cited the key factors that appear to have come into play:
POINT 1 – Warming-driven sea level rise makes storm surges more destructive, noting that a recent study found the sea level on a stretch of the U.S. Atlantic coast that features the cities of New York, Norfolk and Boston is rising up to four times faster than the global average.
POINT 2 – Owing to higher sea surface temperatures from human activities, the increased water vapor in the atmosphere leads to 5 to 10% more rainfall and increases the risk of flooding, citing the findings of Kevin Trenberth.
POINT 3 – Because water vapor and higher ocean temperatures help fuel the storm, it is likely to be more intense and bigger as well.
POINT 4 – The unusual path of the storm saw it run into a heavily populated coastal area rather than out to sea.
Although there are still many people in the United States who think man-made climate change is bunkum (close to 50% in a recent poll, prior to the storm), Hurricane Sandy sent a message that scientists and environmentalists have been trying to hammer home now for well over a decade:
Man-made pollution and activities are dramatically changing the climate.
Economic growth at any cost
The politicians, though, are just paying lip service to climate change, particularly when they need to be seen to be doing something to help people in time of disaster – and on the cusp of the U.S. election.
Despite this new-found concern for dealing with climate change, politicians and governments around the world are by and large all in the pocket of major national and global companies that put profit in front of everything. The most powerful pose the biggest threat to the planet’s well-being – the fossil fuel and the agro-industrial companies.
The typical argument put forward is that modern-day societies need economic growth to prosper and survive. Concern for the environment is typically politicized. You have to choose, say the economic growth pundits. You either have economic growth, jobs and a good lifestyle or you take measures to protect the environment.
It’s climate change, stupid!
But, as Elliott Negin, director of News & Commentary of the Union of Concerned Scientists, says, this argument has to be reframed.
As he put it in a story in the Huffington Post, the biggest long-term threat to the U.S. economy isn’t government over-regulation, high taxes, the deficit or even China – the issues candidates routinely cite. It’s climate change.
Negin says Hurricane Sandy, which just caused an estimated $30 billion to $50 billion in economic losses, put an exclamation point on that assessment.
Maybe such a message will begin to sink in.
But beware.
Grabbing the reins
Most efforts made by political leaders around the world to deal with climate change amount to too little, too late.
Time has run out. The change has to happen now. And it is the people who have to grab the reins. It has to come from individuals, groups and communities, working separately, and together, to wrest control of our lives and our planet from those who don’t care.
Many will believe they are powerless in the face of such mighty forces. But look at the social movements of the past and look at the efforts of the people fighting today to protect the environment.
Whether it is the global 350.org movement to tackle climate change, the protestors trying to block the building of the Keystone XL pipeline in Texas, or the groups fighting to protect marine life, these initiatives are working. It is often tough, exasperating work. Yet progress is being made.
Given that the people are largely excluded from government decisions on measures to protect the environment, these citizen actions provide the way forward.
Hurricane Sandy has sent us a message.
We, the people, will have to respond.
