With approximately five million Floridians without power and images pouring in of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Irma, we continue to send positive thoughts to our friends in the Sunshine State. In the meantime, we have accumulated the following ecoright news items related to the storm. While Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt deemed it “inappropriate” to discuss climate change in the face of the storm and last night, President Donald Trump refused to answer climate related questions, Floridians are not holding back.
Mayor Tomas Regalado: “If this isn’t climate change, I don’t know what is,” Miami’s Republican mayor told reporters as his city braced for the storm. “This is the time to talk about climate change. This is the time that the president and the [Environmental Protection Agency] and whoever makes decisions needs to talk about climate change,” Regalado told the Miami Herald. “This is a truly, truly poster child for what is to come.”
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: The Congresswoman, whose district includes Miami and Miami Beach, advised that “all South Florida needs to get wise where we rebuild and wise when it comes to dealing with the reality of climate change.” She expounded on that sentiment in this clip, beginning around the four minute mark.
Non-Floridians weighed in too: “There is things happening with the climate in the world that is unprecedented,” Sen. John McCain, one of the first Republican lawmakers to champion climate change legislation, said. “We have to understand that the climate may be changing and we can take commonsense measures which will not harm the American people.” Frequent ClimateEye flyer Dr. Katharine Hayhoe said, “We know that as humans, we are all too good at pretending like a risk, even one we know is real, doesn’t matter to us. When we try to warn people about the risks, there’s no ‘news’ hook. No one wants to listen. That’s why the time to talk about it is now.”
We couldn’t agree more.