It's Okay to Push Climate Politics When Disasters Strike
In the wake of a deadly climate crisis-instigated disaster, it is not at all inappropriate to push, debate and point fingers at who's responsible for the lack of needed policy action
Publisher’s Riff
The American public, in a moment of collective grief, has this irritating habit of trying to either gloss over or extinguish any effort at a meaningful political and policy conversation when a great tragedy and loss of life occurs. It’s both ignorant and disingenous. This happens quite frequently with destructive events such as mass shootings, building and bridge collapses, and historic climatic weather events that the science will show is clearly linked to man-made poisoning of our planetary environment. It’s ignorant in the sense that it completely ignores the root cause of the tragedy and it’s disingeuous because it dishonors, in that moment, the lives lost. The best way to honor those victims is to not put our collective heads in the sand about the problem - honoring should come through acknowledgement and the collective action of putting our heads together in figuring out a long-term, permanent solution.
This regularly happens in the wake of extreme weather calamities such as the monster tornado system that ripped through six states this past weekend and has already claimed nearly 100 lives in the state of Kentucky and injured scores more. Of course, the last thing on the mind of people and families living through that moment is the politics of climate crisis, and as they are simply trying to survive it, they’re not able to process the direct linkage between that event and climate crisis. They shouldn’t be expected to amid trauma.
But, we shouldn’t undermine or dismiss others who raise the issue. This happened recently in a noted Twitter exchange that went viral …
Ridge was responding to a Tweet that was since deleted from an advocate who wanted to spark a conversation about Kentucky’s two Republican U.S. Senators, especially the one who’s the current Senate Minority Leader and is long infamous for using the dreaded filibuster to have his party repeatedly block any attempt at shaping policy that adequately addresses the climate crisis or positions the United States needed global leadership on it. In the moment, Ridge is angry and he might seem morally superior for the retort (and the initial tweet he responded to could have been finessed better). But, his response is part of the problem; yes, “people are dead and communities are reeling,” and that’s because the most destructive tornado event in U.S. history could have been prevented had Senators like Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rand Paul (R-KY) been more responsive and not been minions for criminally negligent industries and political interests. So, yes, it’s absolutely relevant and appropriate to hold them and other policymakers accountable … and, no, that person Ridge is responding to shouldn’t “f**k off” for saying so.
Tornadoes, of course, will never go away. But, the intensity and frequency are increasing and will increase as the planet warms from the noxious mix of carbon and methane emission. From The Intelligencer …
The ingredients that fuel more powerful storms — including rising temperatures, moisture, and wind shear — are intensifying as the planet warms. “It’s certainly fair to say that Friday’s disaster should disabuse anyone of the notion that tornado ‘season’ is limited to spring,“ Bob Henson wrote for Yale Climate Connections. “Residents of the world’s most tornado-prone nation have to be vigilant year round, especially in a climate where winter warm spells are getting warmer.”
Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor, told ABC News that a warm December air mass in much of the country and La Niña weather conditions created ideal conditions to spawn tornadoes, adding that in aggregate, extreme storms are “becoming more common because we have a lot warmer air masses in the cool season that can support these types of severe weather outbreaks.” (Temperatures in the zone hit by tornadoes rose into the 70s to near 80 degrees on Friday afternoon; in Memphis, temperatures soared to 79 degrees, breaking a 103-year-old record)
Research is still ongoing. Preliminarily, however, the intensity of this storm and other recent ones coupled with the worrisome movement of tornado systems further to the East does indicate that the accelerated warming of the planet is causing more destruction like what happened over the weekend. From the Washington Post …
In the wake of deadly storms that ravaged parts of the South and the Midwest this weekend, scientists had a warning: While the exact link between climate change and tornadoes remains uncertain, higher temperatures could add fuel to these violent disasters.
As rescuers searched Saturday amid the rubble of violent tornadoes that barreled through multiple states, killed scores of people, and leveled homes and businesses, climate scientists said people around the world needed to brace for more frequent and intense weather-driven catastrophes.
“A lot of people are waking up today and seeing this damage and saying, ‘Is this the new normal?’ ” said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University, adding that key questions still remain when it comes to tornadoes because so many factors come into play. “It’ll be some time before we can say for certain what kind of role climate change played in an event like yesterday.”
The grief of lost life shouldn’t preclude the unapologetic and immediate aftermath “we told you so” conversation about climate crisis and the responsible political and policy culprits that must follow. That not only helps manage the public grieving through realization and recognition, but it also helps immensely in pushing the public towards pressuring policymakers for solutions on a wide range of problems needing immediate attention: continued heavy, but suicidal reliance on fossil fuels that’s exacerbating ongoing carbon emissions from numerous sources and increasing dangerous levels of methane release. In addition, we’ll need a complete investment in the infrastructure that can withstand these changes and is also designed to support the implementation of a total clean energy-reliant global economy.
It’s not inappropriate all to talk about climate crisis in this moment and the solutions to address it. It’s all related. Don’t apologize for it. You want to honor victims? Stop ignoring the crisis, vote for people who are ready to respond to it, support the policy that stops it or mitigates the impact.