We have a unique situation in the United States -- our political climate does not allow most Americans the opportunity to read, study and research "the truth" about climate (as in "weather") change. Government reports are now routinely held "under wraps" if they disagree with the imagined truth of the Republican Conservative Party. Our President lists himself among these devotees of non-scientific posturing.
That means that Hurricane Harvey (according to current Texas law enacted recently) cannot be "linked to" any wording suggesting climate change caused by human activity. Not only does this law deny the scientific truth -- it flies in the face of universal observations and a world of verifiable research. Texas has had 3x500-year floods caused by extreme storms -- all in the past three years. The coastal plain from Port Charles to Corpus Christi has flooded each time, in spite of frantic and desperate local efforts to forestall this process.
We are too arrogant or foolish to learn from countries like Holland and Italy -- as they created their own solutions to flooding in medieval Amsterdam and current-day Venice. Individual areas such as Miami, Florida and the Greater NYC area are studying what was done in Amsterdam and are just beginning to apply that thinking (and that technology0 -- to saving parts of the Florida coast.
America's biggest "holdbacks" are our leaders -- who debunk science rather than notice the waters rising around their ankles. Maybe we should have let Trump Tower NY take on water during Hurricane Sandy -- that might have brought the lessons of change "home" to our current leaders.
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