Fire and Flood
Do any of you remember the summer of 1988?
This was the start of a warming trend that continues and, from all the predictions, looks to get worse.
That summer saw the Uniontown area record 37 days of temperatures of 90 degrees or better. It was also, on July 2nd, the hottest our city had ever recorded with an unbelievable 103 degrees.
Pittsburgh also recorded 103 and tied their all-time record since 1860.
Records in Uniontown only go back to 1913. Since then it continues to get hotter, not only here in Southwestern Pennsylvania but across the planet. We can follow the changing climate by following the heat.
Since the late 1980s each decade has set new records. Since 2000, every year but one has been among the top 10 for heat globally with the planets heat accelerating; each of the last seven years of the 2010-to-2020 period have been one of the hottest years on record.
Already the Southwest is baking with temperatures consistently above 100 degrees and Phoenix reaching 115 and Death Valley 120. So far we have been spared this intense heat pattern and the immediate future looks favorable for more average temperatures across our region, at least for the next two or three weeks.
Just finished a new book by author Eugene Linden, an award-winning journalist, called “Fire and Flood.” Linden has been at the center of the climate change fight for over 30 years and makes the case for the shocking failure to address climate change much like how we failed to address the Covid crisis which, unfortunately, took the lives of 1,000,000 Americans and caused untold suffering for the families and loved ones.
Must our inaction have these kinds of results on the climate issue?
He started writing about climate change in 1988 and frequently contributed articles for Time and authored a previous book on climate, “The Winds of Change,” which explored the connection between the rise and fall civilizations and their connection to climate change.
In his new book he makes a case for how even science lagged behind the realty of climate change, eventually though doing enough research and studies to advance the case that something is wrong. The next laggard was the public who were slow to pick up on the efforts of science and were often misled by business and politicians who continued to push the denier position even as it became increasingly clear that we have a problem.
Business and Finance spent monies to cast doubt as the science and public opinion are downstream from the money. Climate change deniers have been “devilishly effective at slowing and at times reversing the progress of our collective awakening.” He goes on to make a case that since the seasons of fire and flood have become more evident perhaps these same business and finance interests could flip the story very quickly.
The insurance industry has taken notice of the problem and already fire and homeowner insurance in California is a growing problem along with the increasing concern in Florida where most companies have abandoned writing policies as the losses are just too great.
Recent articles on the subject seem to be moving to the fact that the planet is teetering, and we may have a lot less time that we think.