Harvey and Irma should serve as wake-up call on global warming
It is sobering to learn that Florida, known among Chinese as a popular tourist destination and a place where heads of state of the two countries held their first meeting in April, is being devastated by the Hurricane Irma.
Residents were expected to be allowed to return to parts of the Florida Keys on Tuesday to survey damage from Irma, which devastated the state with high winds and storm surges that ruined homes and left millions without power.
Several major airports in Florida that halted passenger operations will begin limited service on Tuesday, including Miami International, one of the busiest airports in the United States.
Before Irma barreled toward south Florida on Sunday, Chinese netizens had expressed concerns about the Sunshine State, whose low elevation and 1,600 kilometers of coastline have made it one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to sea-level rises and extreme weather events driven by global warming.
The reality on the ground now — rows of inundated streets, thousands of evacuees and billions of dollars in property losses — is more thoughtprovoking. While it is important to deal with the aftermath of an immediate disaster, like moving people out of harm’s way and offering aid, it is equally important to heed
The science has been brought on a silver platter to Governor (Rick) Scott, and he’s chosen not to do anything.”
Kathy Baughman McLeod, conservation expert nature’s warning and learn a lesson for long-term safety.
Against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the 2015 Paris accord to curb global warming, critics have claimed that Florida’s Republican governor has ignored climate change risks and possible impact on the thirdmost-populous US state.
“The science has been brought on a silver platter to Governor (Rick) Scott, and he’s chosen not to do anything,” the Chicago Tribune reported on Friday, citing Kathy Baughman McLeod, a conservation expert who served on the Florida Energy and Climate Commission, which was effectively dismantled after Scott took office in 2011.
Chinese media have presented a series of reports on the devastation wrought by back-to-back hurricanes Har- vey and Irma, and on the governments’ relief efforts.
Most conspicuously, Beijing’s State broadcaster, its news agency and leading national newspapers like the People’s Daily have, citing either their reporters’ accounts or climate scientists and meteorologists from Germany and the US, tried to connect the dots between the extreme weather disasters and climate change.
Also, widely reported was a statement from the World Meteorological Organization, which said that hurricanes in a warmer climate are likely to become more intense, and large hurricanes like Harvey and Irma will more likely increase over the 21st century.
Hurricane Harvey killed at least 70 people in Texas and Irma claimed the lives of nearly 40 when it hit the Caribbean last week before boring through Florida.
The climate change denial is probably what prompted the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environment advocacy group in New York, to call for making hurricanes Harvey and Irma turning points in the fight for climate action.
Their catastrophic destruction should serve as a wake-up call for political leaders as well as residents to ramp up efforts in disaster preparedness, and in the long run, reducing global warming. Reuters contributed to this story.