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.
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.
Note: After a long hiatus, I am resurrecting Texas Viking blog to address Texas-only issues (the Global American Values blog will continue to address national/international issues and my Armor Glass blog will address business only issues.)
April 2015
Dear Texas Legislature:
Please address some real priorities while you are in session.
Now that districts are gerrymandered to provide a one-party controlled state, not unlike Russia and China, we are seeing a disturbing trend that is ideological instead of focused on the citizens of this state.
(1) I have heard more about getting guns in schools then about investing in full day pre-K and funding schools properly.
Texas business already has a hard time finding qualified people because of poor skills and education training. Having textbooks painting Moses as one of our founding fathers is hysterical and guaranteed to produce some of the dumbest students on earth.
(2) I am a small business owner and discovered that I pay more in taxes than our Governor for the same income!
Last year Gov. Abbott made about $134,000 (not including tax free money in the millions for an injury), yet he paid only a little over $100 in taxes. Last year, my CPA said that I owe about $4,000 for making about the same net as the Governor.
My company generates six figure revenue which is not enough to incur the Texas franchise tax; yet you want to refund part of that tax instead of paying down the $40 Billion in road debt accumulated by you and Gov. Perry during the past decade. How does giving us of us $179 a year while I sit in traffic and dodge potholes make sense? It's penny wise and pound foolish.
(3) You talk about being "pro life" yet you refuse to expand Medicaid even though it would cost the state nothing.
In fact, by not expanding it you are costing Texas taxpayers hundreds of billions in costs as well as the loss of our tax dollars paid to Washington. Meanwhile, millions of poor Texans go without healthcare. This too makes no sense.
How does denying medical care to the poor equate to being "pro life" or doing what Jesus would do? I recall he healed the sick rather than ignoring them as you have.
(4) According to Texas A&M University 44% of people live within 100 miles of the coast.
Yet you pretend that climate change doesn't exist and are failing to plan for its impact on droughts and rising sea levels. We expect our leaders to live in the real world, not like ostriches with their heads in the sand. A good start would be reading "Houses of Straw."
(5) A healthy democracy requires at least a two-party state instead of leaders hellbent to act as dictators of the agenda. You complain of the president's executive actions yet you are doing the same thing with one-party rule.
To be continued...in the meantime I point you towards REAL solutions in the second half of "Agenda for American Greatness"
