As south Floridians settle back into daily work and school routines, as we try to put hurricane Irma behind us, feelings of relief will be short lived. The next Big One is on the way. It's not currently a mesmerizing, spinning red blob on a radar map, but it is nevertheless already in the works.
Those who deny that sea levels are rising and ocean temperatures are increasing ignore actual measurements, videos of melting glaciers, tides that regularly flood city streets on sunny days. They don't believe meteorologists who claim these factors contribute to fiercer, more frequent hurricanes. They don't think it is time to take action to reverse the impacts of global warming. They feel it's fine to continue building high rise buildings inches from the water in vulnerable coastal cities. Or maybe they feel it won't be our generation's concern, that our children or grandchildren will have to deal with climate change. But it's abundantly clear now that it is our problem to address, in our own lifetimes.
People who live inland often think these monster storms don’t affect them, but how many of them can we as a nation afford to respond to with trillions of dollars in rebuilding and reinforcement of vulnerable structures? At what point will people in non-hurricane states become weary of the yearly parade of horrifying destruction and loss?
The beautiful Keys are in ruins, Naples is a disaster zone. If we rebuild them to their former stature, will they be wiped out again within a few years? What happens when Miami and Fort Lauderdale take a direct cat 5 hit, which they almost did a few days ago?
This is not just a south Florida issue, not a future generation issue. As citizens of Earth, now is the time to take actions to control mankind's negative effects on our planet's atmosphere, regardless of the opinions of so-called leaders. The first step is to acknowledge the reality that a hurricane is more than a rare, tragic, costly event. It is the worst kind of wake up call.
