Just as the climate crisis has affected Puerto Rico with warmer water and stronger hurricanes, it has also affected us in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Data from NOAA, the agency Republicans want to eliminate, tell us that our regions are getting wetter. It was certainly the case over the weekend into Monday with devastating floods on Long Island and in Connecticut.
Last year Vermont experienced flooding it had not had for over a century or more. The rain resulting from hurricanes, like Ida in 2021, coming northeast, killed more than 30 people in New Jersey. We aren’t just having a change; we are really having a crisis.
NOAA didn’t create radical changes in our climate; continuing reliance on fossil fuels has. We cannot deny these changes, just like we cannot deny the existence of dinosaurs like some people want to do. Behaving like ostriches will only get our back sides bitten.
Prayer for the Day
You must wonder, O God, what we are doing,
Destroying the magnificent creation you have given us;
Trapped by the results of short-sightedness and greed,
We continue to ignore the warnings of science.
Wake us up, O Lord, before it’s too late,
So the children we love will have a real future.
In the name of the One who is our model,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Despite an increase in adaptation actions across the country, current adaptation efforts and investments are insufficient to reduce today’s climate-related risks and keep pace with future changes in the climate.
From The Fifth National Climate Assessment (November 2023)
Over 10 inches of rain around Oxford and Southbury [Connecticut] is close to a 1 in 1,000-year flood. That means rain totals like these have an approximately 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year.
Ryan Hanrahan, meteorologist
The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their roaring.
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
More majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord.
Psalm 93: 3-4