John,
Last Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Dorian touched land on the Bahamas as a category 5 storm--the most intense rating on the scale. It battered the islands for two days, killing at least 43 people and leaving 70,000 homeless as it damaged or destroyed nearly half of the homes on Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama.1
Scientists have warned us that climate change would make hurricanes worse: that they’d intensify faster, dump more rain, and travel slower (effectively lasting longer). Hurricane Dorian did all of those things.
The link between climate crisis and Dorian’s destruction is obvious. But the media is refusing to talk about it. Out of 167 stories about Dorian aired last weekend on major news outlets, only 7.2% mentioned climate change.2
Their silence is unacceptable and dangerous. As one New York Times columnist put it: "It's akin to talking about lung cancer and being afraid to mention smoking, or talking about traffic deaths and being afraid to talk about drunken driving."3
In this moment, I am so sad for all the people in the Bahamas who’ve lost homes and lives, and I’m angry at everyone in the media who’s letting this tragedy go by without acknowledging the climate crisis and the fossil fuel billionaires who are ultimately behind it.
But I’m also feeling so grateful that you are part of this movement. Because writing this, I know that thousands of you are out there feeling the same grief and anger that I feel. And I know that together, we will not let the media silence continue. We’ve already proven that we are powerful enough as a collective to change the national conversation. We showed that just earlier this week with the CNN Climate Crisis Town Hall, which was probably the most in-depth, serious conversation about climate ever put on US television. That wouldn’t have happened without our movement -- and I know we can keep pushing further.
Right now, as a first step, the most powerful and urgent thing we can do is come together to support all the communities in the Bahamas that have been destroyed and need to rebuild. The Smile Trust is part of a coalition of community organizations in Miami (where there is a strong Bahamian community) working to provide disaster relief to hurricane victims in the Bahamas.
Donate to Smile Trust to help the thousands of Bahamians who’ve lost homes get the supplies and support they need to survive and start to rebuild.
This is a really hard moment. But I deeply believe in the power of our movement to come together and give what we can -- to stand in solidarity with Bahamians and all other communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Varshini Prakash
1. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/07/us/hurricane-dorian-bahamas-saturday-wxc/index.html
2. https://www.citizen.org/news/major-media-fail-to-connect-hurricane-dorian-to-climate-change/
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/opinion/hurricane-dorian-climate-change.html
