Adopt renewable energy

It is hard not to compare the horrible situation in Puerto Rico with the earthquake that hit Haiti some years ago.

But one significant difference was that the communications in Haiti came back up very quickly, helping rescue workers target the most vulnerable areas. Ironically, this was due to the unreliable power grid in one of the poorest countries in the world. As a result of this, cell phone towers were individually powered by solar energy. Many were destroyed, but not all, so that after the earthquake, service may have been spotty, but it was there.

In my tour of Germany, a country far from the Third World, I noticed that small mountain hamlets of a few hundred houses often had a single turbine to generate power, and many homes had solar panels on their roofs. By not relying on a national grid, these communities were somewhat protected from the disaster of a major storm cutting out lines to the power plants.

As I am writing this, Tesla has pledged to send storage batteries and solar walls to Puerto Rico. This is a step in the right direction, not only for the island but also for parts of the United States mainland that are plagued by the increasing power of weather.

It seems like the best solution to storms enhanced by global warming is the same thing that will help slow the rising carbon levels that are feeding these horrific weather events.

Elaine Bergstrom Milwaukee