Puerto Rico, a tragic glimpse of the future
Puerto Rico has been devastated by Hurricane Maria:
• Gasoline stations open: 721 of 1,100
• Electric customers with power: 5%
• Hospitals connected to the electric grid: 9 (of 69)
• Functioning cell towers: 14%
• Open ports: 75%
• Roads: 50% of major roadways cleared
The weak response of the US government towards it's own citizens sets a troubling precedent for the growing class of Climate Refugees: we are not in this together, escape the coast.
Why should Puerto Ricans rebuild if hurricanes continue to become more powerful? I will be curious to see how many remain on the island, and will update as the figures become available.
I believe the first step is to send relief, then forgive their debt (which is irrelevant now anyways).
Puerto Rico (population - 3.5 million) is just the first. Applying Trump's lazy approach to future climate disasters will cause a refugee crisis that will dwarf the Syrian crisis (population - 22 million, 5 million abroad).
How do we prepare for the potential loss of more cities?
Puerto Rico was in a bad spot before the storm, even more so now but I am very optimistic that we will overcome this. If we can plan for colonization of Mars we can prepare to withstand climate change. There could have been a lot of damage avoided if there wasn't such a dependence on fossil fuels to power the country. 70% of their electricity comes from burning oil, 15% from coal, 14% natural gas, and only 1% from renewable energy sources. The numbers are disappointing to say the least considering that the island has year round sun and lots of wind. We need to kick out dirty fuel interest and put climate change into the forefront of our planning.
I definitely agree with that, I hope that they take the rebuilding period as a opportunity to become energy independent.