Data shows we are
getting hit with more and bigger storms
By Will Collette
The frequency of severe storms in Rhode Island has almost
doubled since 1948, according to a new Environment
America Research & Policy Center report, When It Rains,
It Pours: Global Warming and the Increase in Extreme Precipitation from 1948 to
2011.
While the report does not offer an explanation for why New England is the hardest hit region in the US, the study’s authors blame climate change for the overall increase in weather severity.
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin (D-IL) helped Environment America roll out the report.
“Any Rhode Islander who lived through
the historic storm and floods of 2010 knows about extreme weather,” said
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). “The
clear scientific evidence of increased extreme weather is also a warning – to
prepare our communities, our natural resources, and our economy for the
potentially devastating effects of climate change."
Extreme storms, as well as sea level
rise, are two effects of climate change that have a direct and potentially
severe effect on Charlestown. Though there are no quick fixes or magic bullets
to heal the damage that a century of excessive fossil fuel burning has done to
the climate, the report (not to mention common sense) suggests the urgent need
to reduce our carbon emissions.
Our current town government, controlled
as it is by the environmental troglodytes of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance,
are unlikely to take practical steps to move Charlestown toward less reliance
on fossil fuels.
The only kind of environmental issue
the CCA recognizes is open space, and I suppose, open water, like what we’ll
have after sea rise claims half of the land South of One.
 |
| About half of Charlestown south of One in danger |
They have shown
their disdain for alternative energy as an appropriate activity for
Charlestown despite the urgent need for communities, large and small to reduce
fossil fuel use.
In many ways, they resemble the state
of North Carolina, which recently enacted legislation aimed at denying the
extent of sea level rise. A state-sponsored panel of scientists concluded that sea
level may rise by up to three feet in North Carolina coastal waters by the year
2100.
But rather than accept the facts, the North
Carolina legislature passed a bill that calls for a moratorium on using
those numbers until 2016, calling instead for more studies (hopefully cooked to
their taste) and to permit preparations on the assumption that the most the
coastal waters will rise is 8 inches, rather than three feet.
Governor Beverly Perdue (D) allowed
the bill to become law without her signature.
The Texas and Virginia legislatures also
adopted measures to censor references to sea-level rise in legislation on
planning.
The North Carolina approach reminds me
of the approach CCA’s Town Council President Tom
Gentz and Planning Commissioner George
Tremblay take on affordable housing – cook the numbers till they come out
just right. Sprinkle on a little cow manure and serve it up to your gullible
followers.