Climate change has become a "moral crisis," top scientist says

Jon Foley isn't alone among scientists who insist that we admit the link between hurricanes and climate change

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published September 11, 2017 11:28AM (EDT)

 (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Climate experts seem to agree that there is a connection between the severity of Harvey and Irma and man-made global warming. One of them — Jon Foley, the executive director of the California Academy of Sciences — even went so far as to go on a prolonged tweet storm on the subject.

 

Foley also tweeted a link to a New York Times article to discuss how scientists say the time to discuss climate change is "right now." In the piece, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt said that "to have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced. To use time and effort to address it at this point is very, very insensitive to this people in Florida." The Times piece also included this telling passage:

Dr. Kirtman and Dr. Berry are among a group of Florida scientists who confronted Governor Rick Scott in recent years for his refusal to acknowledge that human-made greenhouse gases are driving climate change. Last year they wrote a letter to then-candidate Donald J. Trump asking for a meeting to discuss the consequences of climate change in Florida. They said the Trump campaign never responded.

Meanwhile, Dr. Katherine Hayhoe — an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University — told the Times: "When we try to warn people about the risks, there’s no ‘news’ hook. No one wants to listen. That’s why the time to talk about it is now." She added, "The most pernicious and dangerous myth we’ve bought into when it comes to climate change is not the myth that it isn’t real or humans aren’t responsible. It’s the myth that it doesn’t matter to me. And that is exactly the myth that Harvey shatters."


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

MORE FROM Matthew Rozsa


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Climate Change Donald Trump Global Warming Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Irma Jon Foley Rick Scott