So if you haven’t been living under a rock for the past week, then you would know there is some serious stuff that just happened in Texas. This is not just any old problem, this is clearly an environmental problem!
What’s going on? To put it simply, it is cold in Texas. Like really cold. (Well, really cold for them. I live in New England where we are totally used to the weather they are experiencing right now. And to be real, when Texas gets “cold,” I like to laugh at them because they have no idea what cold is like… but this is no laughing matter.) For Texas to have temperatures below freezing is almost unheard of! Texas is the only state I believe that is not part of the US power grid. Instead, they have their own grid. A grid that is not really working right now. And they are getting ice and snow on top of all of this to make things worse. Cars have crashed, pipes have burst, energy is absent. So cold weather in a warm climate can get dangerous. And before I keep going I want to further explain that last sentence: cold weather in a warm climate can get dangerous.
So weather is the state of the atmosphere, at a place and time, as it relates to heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc., while climate is the long-term average of weather (typically averaged over a period of 30 years). (I used google definitions; that is only a small piece of the puzzle so I didn’t want to overcomplicate things.) Many scientists are currently saying this is a climate change issue. However, this has been up for discussion. And, many of the people denying the fact that climate change is the major cause think it is the opposite. They don’t understand how this is climate change. I agree this is not a clear representation of “global warming”, a major effect of climate change. But climate change is much more than global warming. Because of this, everything happening in the south is caused by climate change. More specifically, this is called a polar vortex. This pattern comes from the Arctic and is slowly moving towards the equator. It’s already hit Texas now! A major effect of climate change is severe weather. It doesn’t have to be 100 degrees outside for climate change to be present. However, global warming is still playing a part here as it is causing glacial weather to head south.
One of the most frustrating things about all of this is that there are people who are now “hating on” the clean energy industry. Initially, Governor Greg Abbott attempted to leverage the crisis as a blow against expanded renewable energy.. Texas is struggling and many people are blaming the clean energy industry. (Or at least the wind energy industry. The wind turbines that typically supply massive amounts of energy for Texas are frozen at the moment.) But please, trust me when I say, clean energy is definitely a solution. It is hardly the issue. Texas gets tons of its energy through other power plants, many of which are failing to produce. The result of a reliance on fossil fuels is around 500,000 homes and businesses still without power at the time I am writing this. Not only is there a shortage of energy, there is a shortage of water. And many people have nowhere to go or access to clean water or a reliable food supply. People have been collecting rainwater and snow… it sure is unfortunate that they weren’t collecting their own water before. It can really help the planet. And this is just the beginning.
How does environmental justice come into play? As with most environmental issues, and worldwide issues like pandemics, the people most impacted here and hit the hardest are minority groups, poor people, people of color, and Latino communities. They are likely to be the last tended to and first hit. They can’t simply afford to buy bottled water or food from restaurants on the spot. They can’t afford to rent a room for the week and they have nowhere else to go. They can’t easily repair the damage done to their homes. This is obviously horrible and we need to take more action. They can’t go unnoticed. And us, the people not directly affected by any of this need to be loud right now.
I didn’t touch on everything so please check out these resources to learn more.
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