These climate disasters should lead you to the voting booth.
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NEWSLETTER | OCTOBER 11
, 2024
A Vote for the Climate
This time of year, climate disasters are acute. We’re still in wildfire season, with 30 large active fires burning across seven states, and hurricane season is in full swing. These natural disasters are pointed reminders of the larger system dynamics of climate that underpin them. This year, these seasons are leading us into election season.
As I write this, Hurricane Milton has left Florida, and the South is now left to deal with the compound messes of two major hurricanes that have killed hundreds in the span of just a few weeks. Duke Energy, which provides power to millions of people across the region, is struggling to restore it to those hit by Hurricane Helene, and must now deal with Milton’s aftermath.
Duke, by the way, received an overall grade of “D” from the Sierra Club last year for its failure to deal with climate change. Mikaela Curry, Sierra Club’s field manager, called Duke’s refusal to “use all the tools in the toolbox” to transition to renewables “a slap in the face for the communities who will bear the brunt of significant rate hikes and polluting infrastructure.” To say nothing of the damage caused natural disasters.
The barely good news is that the utilities are improving. Just not nearly fast enough. The United States still has some 3,400 fossil fuel-fired power plants in operation. Why? Utilities argue that a fast move to renewables would be expensive. But what that really means is that they would rather the public bear the costs of inaction. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that 60 climate disasters from 2020 to 2022 created losses exceeding $1 billion, and that the losses from such disasters from 1980 to 2023 reached $2.6 trillion.
As massive as they are, these numbers don’t come close to reflecting the true cost of inaction. From 2017 to 2023, at least 5,500 people died in 137 separate climate disasters in the US. At least 227 people died in the wake of Helene, with four deaths (and likely rising) following Milton.
All of this should ring the alarm bells across the political spectrum. Climate change impacts everything, from national security (the military calls it a “threat multiplier” and has been hard hit by the recent hurricanes) to women’s health (Hurricane Helene made abortion access even more limited in the South).
If you are feeling powerless amid all these disasters, take heart. You can do something about it. Vote! Encourage others to vote. This is not the time to sit on the sidelines, or take a stand by staying home. Vote for the climate. Vote for the future.
Vote.
Brian Calvert
Associate Editor, Earth Island Journal
Photo of the damage done by Hurricane Helene by Staff Sgt. Jacob Hancock/National Guard
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