Every 2 seconds, climate change is forcing someone from their homes, according to data from Oxfam International. These climate-fueled disasters are the number one cause of internal displacement globally. More than 20 million people have lost their homes. This translates to one person every two seconds.
“Can you imagine a world without environmental activists pushing for change?”
Climate deniers, it seems, would rather see an entire continent burned into ash instead of admitting that they were wrong.
Dr. Lucky Tran, a scientist and refugee who is an activist fighting for climate justice and immigrant justice, has put the Australian wildfires into a terrifying perspective. Fires are terrifying as it is, but the one in Australia would be considered a Category 5 if it was a hurricane.
As a researcher at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) in Cocoa, Florida, I’ve lived with hurricanes my entire professional career. Each year is like a bad lottery since Florida is a hurricane magnet. Given the paths of past hurricanes, there’s plenty of reason for concern. Living in the state in September suggests a shooting gallery experience — with these hits by major storms, but a lot of near misses.
Imagine this scenario for a moment: It’s a nice day out. The sun is shining beautifully and you’re at the beach. You can feel the sand between your toes, the gentle breeze carrying the scent of salt to your nose as it passes through your hair. The water is gently flirting with the shore in happy, foaming waves that bring pieces of wood, rocks, and the occasional fish before retrieving back into her embrace. It’s cool, a sensual contrast to the warm sand, as it washes over your feet.
It’s creeping towards that time of year for Eastern and Gulf states in the U.S. to prepare for hurricane season. Having lived through many Florida hurricanes, experiencing the water (everywhere) and the wind clearing out stagnant energy, the atmosphere is refreshing — if houses remain and people are fine. Electricity can be knocked out for hours or days, which can be stressful but can also be relaxing. It depends on your situation, your needs, and your point of view.
Communities around the world are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Finance is at the heart of the matter: adapting to rising sea levels, heat waves, floods, and erratic weather is becoming expensive very quickly, particularly for developing countries.
As more areas of the world continue to be decimated by extreme events, many fueled by climate change, it is important that reconstruction policies — especially when seeking to restore peoples’ livelihoods — take into account the human factors of well-being and contentment
A combination of natural disasters and extreme weather events impacting the entire globe is likely to mean 2017 will be the most expensive on record according to 28 insurance industry organizations.
