Apologies to James Taylor, but his aptly titled song fits the time today perhaps more than when he wrote it. Central Tennessee was inundated by up to 17 inches of rain which turned placid creeks into raging rivers and has killed 22 people and counting. Tropical Storm Henri while not a significant wind event continues to pound the coastal northeast US with up to 8 inches of rain in some places. Scientists tell us a warming atmosphere can hold much more moisture leading to the tragedy in Tenn. and the ongoing thrashing of the Northeast.
Meanwhile, the west continues to burn as the years long drought conditions also exacerbated by climate change place agriculture and people in the crosshairs of water restrictions. There may be enough water for continued growth in the west, but the spectacle of watering lawns in the desert will rapidly become an historic anomaly.
Our response to the slow motion disaster which is climate change will be judged harshly by future generations. I don't subscribe to doomsday scenarios, but our descendants will be cleaning up our mistakes for generations and they won't be happy about it. Like the tobacco companies before them, the fossil fuel industry has known about the pernicious effects of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere for at least 50 years and has passively and actively sabotaged efforts to reduce our dependence on coal and oil. The industry must acknowledge its complicity and begin amelioration efforts. In other news, the government has announced we will all be getting ponies for Christmas...
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