Every time we get another one of these monster storms inflicting billions of dollars in damage — not to mention the terrible cost in human lives — I'm reminded of the routine reaction to mass shootings.
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Every time we get another one of these monster storms inflicting billions of dollars in damage — not to mention the terrible cost in human lives — I'm reminded of the routine reaction to mass shootings.
"This has to stop," people say. "We can't allow it to continue."
And yet it DOES continue, month after month, year after year. How much longer will we put up with it?
________________________________Climate advocates say Hurricane Milton's 145 mile-per-hour winds and massive disruption to millions of people's lives should make Americans furious at those who have helped make extreme weather more frequent and dangerous.
Scientists and meteorologists have unequivocally told oil companies and policymakers that fossil fuel extraction is causing planetary heating, which has led to higher temperatures in oceans and bodies of water including the Gulf of Mexico, where the rapidly strengthening hurricane formed.
But despite the fact that fossil fuel giants like ExxonMobil and Shell knew decades ago that drilling for oil and gas would cause violent weather and potentially catastrophic events, the industry's profits have only grown as the U.S. has continued to subsidize their pollution-causing activities.
Candice Fortin, U.S. campaigns manager for 350.org, said that fossil fuel executives and the politicians who support them have "blood on their hands" and called on Biden to unequivocally stand on the side of hurricane victims by declaring a climate emergency.
"This is a climate emergency," said Fortin. "Every time we repeat that, countless more lives have been lost or upended by the fossil fuel industry. How many more times will it take? We call on President Biden to use his executive power to declare a climate emergency so we can finally protect front line communities."
Organizer and attorney Aaron Regunberg says oil companies' contributions to the climate emergency have been compounded by their vast efforts to spread misinformation and hide their knowledge that fossil fuel extraction was heating the planet.
"Regular people are paying the ultimate price for this sociopathic greed," said Regunberg. "The families made homeless, the wives and husbands and parents and children who lost loved ones to Helene — these victims deserve justice no less than victims of street-level crimes, and the companies and corporate executives responsible for their pain and suffering deserve criminal punishment at least as much as, if not far more than, the average street-level offender."
"Climate victims have paid so much for Big Oil's reckless conduct," he added. "It's time to make the polluters pay."
________________________________FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.commondreams.org/news/climate-change-hurricanes
#Politics #History #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange
