On the Soapbox: Hurricane Season

This isn’t the best time for a “I told you so” in regards to the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean and the ones coming up along the US’s southern coast. However, it is also the best time before people start blaming lesbians and gays for God’s supposed wrath. In fact, they’ve already started so I might as well.

Let’s get this straight. Climate change did not cause the hurricanes. They made the hurricanes worse. In short, hurricanes are formed over swathes of warm water in the ocean and with the global water temperature rising, this not only expands the area in which potential hurricanes can form but also contributes to their severity and duration when they do form.

For more on how hurricanes are formed, click here.

One of the reasons why the term global warming was changed to climate change is because the change in the average temperature of global temperature doesn’t result in warmer weather everywhere. Some areas got colder, others got droughts or more severe blizzards. So it’s not just hurricanes and typhoons that form because of climate change; it affects the global weather system and throws it out of whack.

Just look at the trillions of gallons of water dumped on Southern Texas by Harvey. Having a Category 4 hurricane hit Texas full-on is definitely not an usual event (it is the first since Hurricane Carla in 1961). Then, we have Irma coming up Florida and during the time of writing, projected to go through Georgia and linger around Nashville, Tennessee. That’s also saying nothing about Jose that’s forming behind Irma.

God must really want to punish the gays, huh?

That’s all. This is Lieutenant and I’ll talk to you later.

That said, now that Irma has passed over the Carribean islands, it is the time for recovery. I’ve done my part in donating. Let’s make this an opportunity to learn. It’s not too late to turn this back. If we can just minimise our carbon emissions and keep to the Paris Climate Agreement despite the President, then we can save uncountable lives that don’t need to be put at stake in the future. If we don’t, then no one is safe. Irma is going to make headway into the central United States in the coming days. It is a sign. Even if it’s in a form that are not hurricanes, be it locust swarms or malaria outbreak, climate change will affect everyone. The ones who will be affected most are the common people who don’t have the means to be able to pack up and go. Decide wisely. What you do now will affect the rest of your life and the ones in the rest of the world. Call out the heavy hitters. Make phone calls to your congresspeople. Let’s try to not make the US the one responsible for pushing Earth onto the path to destruction.