Send Your Legislator This Link - WHY Texas Needs a CLIMATE CHANGE DEFENSE PLAN.

The weather is no longer 'normal' - we swing  from one extreme to another.

It is the classic definition of what scientists say happens with climate CHANGE.

HOTTER air holds more moisture, so it can release more rain at faster rates - at one point during Memorial weekend we got 1 inch of rain in a mere 5 MINUTES!  Unheard of. During Allison it took a day to get 12 inches. We are now getting that in 6 hours!

Hence we will be getting more 100 year and 500 year events, annually!

We are now FEELING the effects. This past few years in Texas we have seen both extremes - Extreme DROUGHT (covering 95% of the state at one point) then extreme FLOODING. No in-between. 

Tornadoes have now hit such rare places such as Mexico and Maine. The Pacific has had a record number of monster CAT 5 hurricane/typhoon storms in the last two years. 120 degree temperatures in India is melting asphalt into black pools of molten rock. 

The planet is sending us a message. But you can't see it if you never leave Austin, TX or pay attention.

                                     Victims of Houston's Flooding, hometown of Author

 Ignoring it will not improve our situation.  WHERE is our Texas PLAN to DEAL with it?

We need a crash program to attack climate change before we commit species suicide with our only living planet in this galaxy.  

Turning Earth into hot-house Venus by continuing our relentless release of billions of carbon and methane emissions will make your heirs future a dark one.  I don't have any kids; my motivation for yelling is to avoid humans looking stupid by extincting themselves.  We humans are the proverbial frogs in water who doesn't notice it is getting hotter and hotter, until he's a goner.

The good news is that if ever decide to use them, humans have these marvelous BRAINS that are quite good at finding solutions IF they are put to use. 

Methane leaks must be stopped. We need a crash conversion to solar and wind from our dirtiest sources first - zero coal use to start. I have witnessed how many JOBS are CREATED by addressing these issues with technology. (I went to China as a young attorney in the early 80's to sell them pollution control technology for coal plants).

We will also need to start converting to PERMEABLE PAVEMENT - so that the rain will soak through our cement surfaces inside of becoming more run-off as it happening. As we have grown and laid more cement, we cut off a chance for the moisture to  go underground instead of building up to a Tsunami of water seeking an avenue of escape on our flat dinner-dish terrain. Permeable pavement looks like pavement, but lets the water soak to the ground below, reducing runoff.

The other great threat is wind-borne debris thrown our windows by more frequent hurricane-force winds. Glass is the weakest link of our biggest asset. When winds break it the internal pressure causes uplift on the roof, and that leads to structural failure and damage. Not to mention mold, water damage, etc. We humans are relying on a technology that hasn't changed in 5,000 years. It is time to upgrade that too. We need to do multiple things AT ONCE.

We CAN fix this, but it will take committing to using NEW technology along with our  human brains, which are remarkable when we use them to solve issues instead of creating problems.

Contact your legislator and send this link with a request Texas establish a CLIMATE CHANGE DEFENSE PLAN.    

Your kids lives and our future depends on it. More than you think.

Texas Historic Floods Prove: NO LONGER is the question "Is Climate Change REAL OR NOT?"

Tonight Texas is under, once again, a TORNADO ALERT. So its a good time to discuss this issue

NO LONGER is the question "Is Climate  Change REAL OR NOT?" When 97% of the experts agree, deal with it. We elect presidents with only 51% (or less). I don't care what 97% of the plumbers think since they don't do climate studies (I will ask them about those damn wipes plugging my system.) Nor do I plan to ask my surgeon about that monster typhoon hitting Australia. I have traveled globally but that doesn't make me a climate expert either. So I listen to the experts who DO study this unique area.  They aren't split 50-50. It's 97-3.

The only argument left (at best) is whether its "natural" or "human-caused" but even that debate doesn't matter either. Why?

Because the answer is the same regardless of which of those two are correct.  It's REAL. Stop wasting time. DO SOMETHING. PLAN for it. Have a STRATEGY to deal with it, because it is kicking our butts. It's messing up the only world we have and we are passing to our kids a deteriorating mess.
 
Weather Extremes are the new norm. Call it "Weather Whipsaw.' All Drought to all Flood. From too little to too much. Texas zips  from years of Droughts straight into 500 year floods. Except they start happening annually. 

It's not just here. India is being parboiled at 120 degrees melting asphalt streets and killing thousands. Below the equator the biggest typhoon in history is raging across the southern hemisphere.

Since its real and the hotter air is adding speed to the winds, we should first ask ourselves a fundamental question:

Are the  buildings we live and work in able to handle these more ruthless storms? 

Shocking, but most people don't know that they live in literal houses of straw...only a huff and a puff from blowing away (or floating away as we tragically saw on the Blanco River, this past Memorial Day).

 But it need not be...

There are things you need to know to protect your most valuable asset and family.   The alternative of doing nothing is foolish at best, deadly at worst.

Gov. Abbott Just Created a Potential Oklahoma City Act of Terrorism

3 May 215

Governor Abbott’s Jade Helm Statement

Just Created a Potential Oklahoma City Act of Terrorism

Governor Greg Abbott just did the equivalent of falsely shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater, creating mass panic that can get people trampled to death. He lit the fuse to potential violence that could result in Texas experiencing what happened to Oklahoma City in 1995 by legitimizing the crazy idea that our own military is coming to Texas to fight Texans. Texas is a military state. Troops have been coming here for decades to train and never before has anything this absurd been claimed – or believed -- by those who apparently don’t get out of town often. 

As one of the few who is a documented terrorism analyst (who predicted 911 on TV), it is clear to me that  Governor Abbott has created a dangerous situation that could drive the most extreme people over the edge when he gave lunatic thinking his stamp of authority. This encouragement could lead to our own domestic misfits into acting out terrorist acts. What if someone starts shooting at our troops? What if one of the unhinged takes the Governor at his word and decides to copy Tim McVeigh’s Oklahoma “protest” act of blowing up a building? The ingredients are readily available. Instead of tamping on the fuse, the Governor tossed some gasoline on it.

Despite what people think, today’s biggest threat to Americans comes from potential domestic terrorists, not foreign ones. Why? Because the domestic ones already live here! Unlike an isolated ISIS member attempting to cross the border, the domestic ideologues are far more numerous and armed to the teeth including military grade weapons.  We saw this play before when a disgruntled Tim McVeigh loaded a Ryder truck with explosives and blew up the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 including children in a day care center.  We have seen this play as people have jumped the White House fence and made an historic number of threats against America’s first black president. A Governor’s words carry weight; they can make a bad situation worse.

                                  Texas Militia on the border with military weapons

Despite what the unproven claims, ISIS is nowhere near Texas (or Mexico) but is focused on building a caliphate halfway across the planet in places called Syria and Iraq.  Governor Abbott’s statement on Jade Helm 15 encouraged those who get their exclusive news from people like alarmist Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh to take action against our own troops who have been in places like Iraq and Afghanistan but come from places like Lubbock and Kansas City.  This is not an American civil war. No one is taking away guns. Walmarts are still safe outlets for cheap Chinese goods and low wages.

It’s one thing for a Governor not to be able to remember the three things he wants to abolish as president and talk about secession. It’s totally another for a sitting Governor to allow our most extreme people to think their paranoia is valid and that they should act as if invaded. It invites another Oklahoma City incident. It invites someone shooting at our own troops on a training mission. It invites disaster.

It creates fear instead of understanding and facts. What Gov. Abbott did violates his oath to protect the Constitution and the public. The Governor should immediately retract his remarks and be more like a common sense leader we need instead of giving the stamp of approval to wingnut theories.

Michael Fjetland

Author "Better Times Ahead April Fool"

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

President, Armor Glass Int'l Inc.

www.ArmorGlass.com