Our hearts are with all of those in Texas, across the Gulf Coast, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas who have had their lives affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The total extent of the destruction caused by these hurricanes is still unknown, but from what we know, it’s catastrophic. Harvey, Irma, and Maria have been especially devastating because they are hitting the most vulnerable people the hardest -- devastating low-income communities, farm workers, and communities of color, and making the toxic circumstances many of these neighborhoods face every day much more dangerous.
Trump’s climate denial is a slap in the face to all of the victims of Harvey, Irma, Maria, Sandy, and Katrina who have lost their lives, their homes, or their communities from these massive storms.
To be clear, climate disruption is not the root cause of hurricanes, heat waves, floods, droughts, or wildfires. But what a changing and warming climate does do is create the conditions that enable storms like Harvey and Irma, droughts, and wildfires to be stronger and more dangerous -- it’s like putting our weather on steroids. The climate crisis is what is transforming category 3 hurricanes into category 5s, and driving sea-level rise that exacerbates the impacts of floods, hurricanes, and storm surges.
The Trump administration has exacerbated these climate impacts by trying to throw out public health laws on carbon pollution, withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, appointing climate deniers to lead agencies that track hurricanes like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and proposing to dramatically slash the budgets of critical preparedness and emergency response agencies this country desperately needs, now more than ever.
Thankfully, the heroism and sacrifice of public health professionals, first responders, and volunteers who are risking their lives and working tirelessly to save others and rebuild communities is inspiring all of us to do better.
That’s why the Sierra Club is proud to support the newly introduced Climate Change Health Protection and Promotion Act of 2017, co-sponsored by Senator Ed Markey and Congressman Matt Cartwright.
This bill ensures that the federal government, under any administration, will do its job to protect the health of families and communities across the country by ensuring sure we are identifying, monitoring, preparing for, and responding to the adverse health impacts of the climate crisis.
We must be preparing for health impacts while continuing to combat climate change in this new reality -- not burying our heads in the sand while the seas are rising. We must prepare our entire public health infrastructure for the new reality of climate change, and we must work simultaneously at the federal, state, and local level because community leadership is critical when it comes to preparing for and responding to these climate impacts. And that’s exactly what this bill helps to achieve.
The time is now to move forward with commonsense measures like this to protect public health in the face of the coming age of climate disasters and at the same time do everything we can to cut carbon pollution the root cause of climate change.