In the second week of September, Hurricane Florence, which was attacked in the southeast of the United States, is the latest in a series of extreme weather events. These incidents have improved people's expectations for disaster preparation.Because large -scale storms occur frequently, the global government's response measures are to improve the early warning system, improve the evacuation plan, and formulate more active evacuation measures.
However, the fire, drought and storms that worsen the global warming will one day beyond our ability to respond, and this day will soon come.With the occurrence of a new disaster, the reasons for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and slowing the speed of human warming are becoming more and more sufficient.The solution is obvious: we must choose leaders who can take climate change seriously.In the United States, the next opportunity to achieve this goal will be the mid -term elections in Congress in November.
Since the former scientist James Middot; James Hansen's first chest warning, human activity has passed after the earth warms, and 30 years have passed.But because few people noticed his warning at the time, everyone was paying the price now.In the first nine months of 2018, the world has experienced rare historic weather incidents. From the forest fire caused by drought in western United States, Greece and Sweden, to the floods in Hawaii, southern India and other parts of South Asia.When Florence swept the two states of the North and South Carolina, Typhoon Mangosteen was drowning the Philippines and southern China.
Although Hansen's warning was issued at the beginning of climate science, today's scientists have established the connection between carbon dioxide discharge, climate change and bad weather.For example, researchers have found extreme heat waves and global warming, such as the heat waves recently experienced by California, China, Japan, and South Korea.The data also shows that the severe hurricane in southern United States is related to heating up the waters of Mexico.Hurricane Harvey attacked Texas and elsewhere in 2017, and brought up to 50 inches of rainfall in some areas.
Disaster prevention planning can still save life, which is beyond doubt.In Houston, Dezhou, the authorities prepared for the hurricane Harvey, partly because of the destruction of the Hurricane Carterina of Louisiana's New Orleans in 2005.The storm caused 1833 people to die, while the number of deaths during Harvey had at least 88 people.
India's effect on learning lessons is more significant.In October 2013, the residents of Orrisa received a warning before the tropical cyclone Feilin arrived.Many people have evacuated when the storm landed.Although Feilin still killed 45 people, a storm of similar scale in the same area 14 years ago caused 10,000 people to be killed.
Nevertheless, due to the danger of knowledge and actions, even if scientific evidence is accumulated, emergency management is still difficult to keep up with the damage caused by climate change.For example, many economic consultants still believe that climate change plans are hindered rather than promoting growth, although the fact is that the low -carbon solution has created new investment opportunities and employment positions.Decision makers are also reluctant to promote meaningful changes, such as charging carbon taxes or removing stone digestion fuel subsidies.Most national leaders believe that keeping the status quo is more secure in politics.Even the weather forecast for TV broadcasts usually does not mention the root cause of climate change is the root cause of serious weather events.
Especially in the United States, the gap between the policy level is more obvious.With the international countermeasures of climate change to a critical turning point, the Trump administration is guiding the US economy through reversing the emission restrictions of coal -fired power plants, encouraging the production of fossil fuel production and revoking the support of wind and solar energy, andImprove the road of carbon dioxide emissions.
All these are economically unreasonable.To make matters worse, the White House proposed to reduce the budget of the National Meteorological Bureau and relax the environment and partition regulations, which will further prevent the management of disaster.
As a country with the highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the world, the United States shoulders the unique responsibility to help solve the problem of climate change.The same is true of American voters.When voting in November, American voters must consider the climate change policy of candidates.Although voters are most concerned about domestic issues, Harvey, Florence and other extreme weather events have made global warming a local issue and a problem that has to be considered when voting.
(Author Vinod THOMAS is an independent evaluation director of the World Bank. He is currently a guest professor at the National University of Singapore. He is a professor of climate change and natural disasters: For the sustainable future change, the economic and policy Climate Chang and Nature Disasters: Transforming Economies and Policies for a S USAINABLEFuture)
English Title: Hurricnesss at the Ballot Box
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.
