Another day, Another Hurricane

Hurricane Michael was the second destructive storm to hit the Southeast this hurricane season. It was a record-breaking storm, just like the storm before it, and the storm before that. Devastating, cataclysmal storms have become our new normal. And that’s not ok.

Each new hurricane brings a new wave of never before witnessed destruction.

• Hurricane Michael was the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle since the 1800’s
• Hurricane Florence dumped a record-breaking amount of rainfall on North Carolina
• Hurricane Maria caused catastrophic damage in Puerto Rico, killing at least 3,000 people
• Hurricane Irma was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean
• Hurricane Harvey broke national records on the amount of rainfall dumped on Texas

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report finally responded to the alarm bells we’ve been ringing for years now – and spelled out the truly stark reality of our climate situation.

Without swift, urgent, and massive movements to get off fossil fuels, we’re looking at apocalyptic changes to our globe. And in Florida, we’re already facing these climate emergencies now.

We have to move to 100% clean, renewable energy to keep these monster storms from becoming even stronger, but to also keep us safer and to strengthen our resiliency.

Hurricanes over the last couple of years have shown us that our infrastructure is wholly inadequate to deal with them. Each storm has brought widespread power outages that lasted much longer than they should have.

After Irma, some Floridians were out of power for weeks.

Hurricane Harvey tore through an area with several hundred petrochemical plants, causing over 100 chemical spills. To make matters worse, regulators have been so lax with the oil and gas industry that the vast majority of these spills were never investigated. Think about that: we have no way of knowing just how bad the spills were and how the people living near them could be impacted in the long run.

And right now, thousands are still out of power in areas hit hardest by Michael. In Lynn Haven, officials recently warned residents the power could be out for months. One of the state’s largest energy utilities, Duke Energy, admitted in some of the hardest hit areas, they don’t even have an estimate for how long it will take to restore power to some Floridians because the infrastructure was so badly damaged.

Moving to 100% clean energy as quickly as possible is critical to protecting our health, our communities, and our way of life. Take action now and tell your congress member to support the Off Fossil Fuels Act to move the US to 100% clean energy by 2035.