Climate change did not “cause” Harvey, but it’s a huge part of the story - by David Roberts

Several people have written some version of “what you can say about Hurricane Harvey and climate change” in the past few days. I’ll link to some of them below. 

But I think they are all saying too little. There’s much more to say, so much more! In fact, here are nine things you can say about Harvey and climate change.

1) Harvey is not centrally about climate change

Climate is not central, but by the same token it is grossly irresponsible to leave climate out of the story, for the simple reason that climate change is, as the US military puts it, a threat multiplier. The storms, the challenges of emergency response, the consequences of poor adaptation — they all predate climate change. But climate change will steadily make them worse.

2) “Did climate change cause Harvey?” is a malformed question

Climate change does not cause things, because climate change is not a causal agent. “Climate change” is a descriptive term — it describes the fact that the climate is changing. What’s causing the changes is an increase in heat energy trapped in the atmosphere, due to greenhouse gases.

3) Yes, climate change made Harvey worse

Thanks to the recent profusion of great climate journalists and communicators, this story has been well told already. Probably the best source is this Facebook post from climate scientist Michael Mann, but also see Chris Mooney, Robinson Meyer, John Schwartz, and Emily Atkin.

4) We don’t know if climate change is making hurricanes more likely

The scientific battles over hurricanes and climate change go way, way back, and run hot. They are also, for a nonpartisan outsider, quite technical and boring. 

5) We know climate change is making severe downpours more likely

Severe downpours in the Houston area have become 167 percent more frequent in the past decade, which is commensurate with one of the best-understood and most confident predictions of climate science: Climate change is going to bring lots more heavy rains (and thus flooding). See Andrea Thompson’s great rundown at Climate Central on this.

Note EU-Digest: There are however more popular thoughts about the reason for hurricane Harvey coming from "conservative circles" and wire services, which would have it that God is judgemental and serves retribution for bad behavior. Specially In a state like Texas that still thinks Barack Obama was Muslim and that hurricane Katrina was punishment to New Orleans. Unfortunately, what goes around comes around.Texas ( by their own mentality ) is being punished for, ( pick one or add your own reason ) denying climate change, electoral gerrymandering, eliminating planned parenthood, building a wall,Gregg Abbott, Rick Perry , Rep. Gohmert, Ted Cruz, supporting Trump (who contradicts everything conservative Christians supposedly have disavowed), fracking, open carry of guns in Public places, executions, or just "because ".

For the complete report click here: Climate change did not “cause” Harvey, but it’s a huge part of the story - Vox