Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Like WI Gov. Walker, TX Gov. avoids climate change

Right-wing Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas is facing a new, post- Hurricane Harvey normal, but you don't hear him saying what GOP officials have evaded, down-played and flat-out denied for years - - that climate change is part of that new normal.

His climate change denial has been documented.

Right-wing Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker has done the same thing - - stayed silent on climate change after major flooding.

His climate change denial has been documented,

And as I have written on this blog often, federal officials going back to 2003 and the Bush 43 presidency warned government officials that a warming climate was changing weather patterns and increasing the likelihood of major rain events which routine infrastructure could not continue.

Houston is especially vulnerable to this scenario, as it is a flat area with extensive roads, roofs and parking lots impervious to water absorption and thus prone to rapid runoff and thus deluges which include multiple and very recent 500-year-floods.

And sits next to the warm and warming Gulf of Mexico, from which storms get energy and moisture - - a recipe for disaster which has been ignored and wished away as the population has grown to the 4th most populated city in the US.

I recommend this piece for a broader look.

Climate change deniers and ideological captives too afraid to buck the right-wing nose machine make the worst imaginable public officials in these conditions. and now we have one of them in the White House and this headline just days before Houston drowned
Trump to reverse Obama-era order aimed at planning for climate change
So reminiscent of the devastation/denial dynamic after SuperStorm Sandy.Tragic and depressing.

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