Here’s how humans are making hurricanes worse

When Hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas last week, humanity played a role in the destruction.

Human intervention is making natural disasters unnaturally harmful, both in causes and effects, and the number of ways our own influence is making things worse, taken together, is sobering.

On a global scale, we are bolstering the destructive potential of hurricanes and other extreme weather events by driving climate change. At the local level, we remain reluctant to deal with the problems of our own making, building and rebuilding in risky areas even as we avoid the policies and investment that would help mitigate the threats.

Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said people tended to think of climate change as an abstract problem with only technocratic solutions. But it is getting more concrete all the time, and requires real-life action in response.

“This year has shown us that climate change is a present-day threat to the safety and livelihoods of communities across America,” she said. “Some communities are tackling these issues head on, but some have their heads in the sand.”

‘Human interference’ is making hurricanes more destructive

The human contribution to heating up the planet by burning fossil fuels is already nudging up the destructiveness of hurricanes like Florence and last year’s Hurricane Harvey in some ways, and will have even greater effects over time: “Climate change is expected to make intense hurricanes more intense,” said Andrew Dessler, a climate expert at Texas A&M University.

The consequences of human-driven climate change on hurricanes plays out in a number of ways. Hurricanes get energy from warm ocean water, and the oceans