Sandy, climate chaos, and the election

It's been a week since Superstorm Sandy hit the other coast and I haven't written anything about it. I spend my weekdays as communications director for a small nonprofit mobilizing against climate change, so I frankly like to avoid politics in my off hours -- and make no mistake, climate change has somehow joined abortion and gay marriage as the most partisan of issues. But now, at this juncture of the election and the continued suffering in the Northeast, I have a few coherent, if not original, thoughts on the topic.

For all the devastation Superstorm Sandy has wrought (and continues to wreak), its silver lining is that it has finally put climate change back on the national media radar. From the Bloomberg Businessweek "It's global warming, stupid" cover to Mike Bloomberg's endorsement of President Obama, more of us seem to have gotten a clue that a warming Earth and rising seas will create many more Sandys. The media mostly ignored climate change this year, but maybe Sandy will prove a swing vote to help re-elect the guy who at least admits that global warming is not a hoax nor a punch line. 

Yet no matter who wins, we have a pile of work to do, and it's unlikely that much of it will get done in Washington, D.C., if Congress remains divided. As Jeff Speck pointed out in this Salon article over the weekend, the easiest way to personally have an impact is to move to a city and start walking. But since that's not possible for everyone, perhaps Sandy will at least re-inspire people to think about what they can do to stay out of their cars, whether it's walking the kids to school, working from home once a week, or making one big grocery run each month and buying the rest of your stuff on bike or foot.

Of course we need big measures, too. Faced with Congressional gridlock, the Environmental Protection Agency has been working with the Obama administration to enact regulations that will, among other things, curb carbon pollution from new power plants. Bill McKibben and 350.org have the genius idea that we can stick it to fossil fuel companies the same way we brought down apartheid in South Africa 30 years ago, via divestment, and that's definitely worth a try. 

It's been heartening to see this past week how metropolitan New Yorkers, already the least car-dependent people in America, have responded with generosity and creativity to their crisis. Northeasterners ranging from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to anonymous neighborhood heroes have shown us all how to behave well in times of trouble.When California's time comes again, I know we'll rise to the occasion, too. But we must remember that climate havoc is an even bigger threat to developing nations than it is to the U.S.

Finally, props to the American Red Cross. Big government plays a key role in times of crisis, and so do big organizations that get the job done without a profit motive. As usual, the Red Cross has risen to the occasion, and its work is worthy of your support.

Photo above from Facebook