Month 7, Day 22: It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

Taking a brief break from Senators. Connecticut got badly whacked by thunderstorms that did a lot of damage. I sent this letter to the Hartford Courant.

The thunderstorms that have battered Connecticut are part of a new and rapidly-increasing trend of severe and unusual weather. As the greenhouse effect increases the overall temperature, water evaporates and enters the atmosphere — which means more rain in the summer and more snow in the winter. Which in turn means more storm damage; more power outages; more downed cables and disrupted traffic; more destroyed property; more insurance bills. While we can’t say that any single storm is “caused” by global warming, climate scientists have been predicting for years that carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere will affect overall weather in just this way. Another recent story in the Courant notes that a severe tropical storm has disrupted cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. How much worse must it get before Americans wake up to the reality of climate change and the urgency of action?

Warren Senders