Irma and Harvey lay the costs of climate change
denial at Trump’s door
The president’s dismissal of scientific research is doing nothing to protect the livelihoods of
ordinary Americans.
Bob Ward - Sunday 10 September 2017
As the US comes to terms with its second major
weather disaster within a month, an important
question is whether the devastation caused by
hurricanes Harvey and Irma will convince
Donald Trump and his administration of the
reality of climate change.
The president’s luxurious Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida may escape Irma’s wrath, but with the
deaths of so many Americans, and billions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses,
the costs of climate change denial are beginning to pile up at the door of the White House.
Just days before Harvey formed in the Atlantic last month, Trump signed an executive order
to overturn a policy, introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama, to help American
communities and businesses become more resilient against the risks of flooding, which are
rising because of climate change.
But the merciless assault on the US mainland by Harvey and Irma should be forcing the
president to recognise the consequences of his arrogance and complacency in dismissing
the research and analysis carried out by scientists.
The flooded streets of Houston and the wind-ravaged homes of south Florida bear the
unmistakable fingerprint of extreme weather made worse by manmade greenhouse gas
emissions.
A hurricane is a huge, rotating cluster of thunderstorms that forms above a sea surface that
has a temperature of at least 26.5C. It is like a giant engine, transferring heat from the sea
surface up into the atmosphere and generating strong winds and heavy rain in the process.
Climate change cannot be blamed for the hurricane count in any single season, nor for the
occurrence of any single storm, but there are some ways in which it is making the
consequences worse.
Adapted from: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/10/hurricane-irma-harvey-climate-change-trump>. Acesso em: 17 set 2017.
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