My heart goes out to the millions of people suffering this freezing winter in Texas. Disasters can be natural, manmade, or a combination of both. Winter storms traveling that far south are certainly uncommon but not unheard of; it’s been about a decade since winter’s last blast.
Whether such storms are a direct byproduct of climate change—Earth’s warming atmosphere–remains a question under investigation. We take note, however, that those who study and understand climate change the best have warned us for years to expect an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms as part of a pattern of extreme weather events.
I do hope some of the GOP leaders in Texas learn a drop of humility from this catastrophe, since their own past decisions undoubtedly affected its scope and duration. Maybe they can learn to be a little less caustic in their attacks on other states when different regions of the country suffer in turn from wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes.
Learning from mistakes is, in a sense, at the heart of the human experience—it is an essential part of the human story to let knowledge and science guide policy going forward. We must study and critique what went wrong in Texas, not simply to measure out responsibility, but to choose and develop “best practices” for the future.
It is not time to seek scapegoats or engage in bland platitudes more circular than substantive; Texas leaders should to tone down their hubris and accept some marked degree of responsibility for the colossal catastrophe that befell the people of their state.
Our hearts go out to you, Texas, but we can’t help wondering if bombastic political boasting—the constant snide snipping at leaders of other states at every twist and turn–didn’t help seduce you away from keeping your eye on what needed to be done to ensure safety for the people of your own state?
Bombastic speech and barbed insults do little to solve crisis-problems now staring you in the face. However much money you thought you were saving by refusing to weatherize for such massive storms, you will lose far more in the present moment.
The miserly frugality has boomeranged; you are reaping heartache double and treble, the grim results of pain and suffering; the gigantic power failures might have been avoided had you acted sooner.
Reacting to a crisis after it has occurred is never the same policy as anticipating extreme weather events before they occur.
The first approach is elitist and reactionary (“What went wrong? Who is to blame?!”); the second approach is thoughtful, wise, and progressive: plan ahead!
Perhaps Texans will be more willing to work with the Biden administration to address infrastructure repairs and under-preparedness all across the country. This winter storm will hardly prove to be the last great weather crisis of Texas or the nation; rather, we must process the current disaster as additional incentive to wake up to the reality of climate change–it is an urgent warning to act now.
Let’s think more about people as people, as human beings, and less about making every issue an us-versus-them battle. Let’s work together to provide Texans with the basic essentials of life: food and water and let’s work together to warm them up with heat and shelter and try to set aside our other partisan differences, at least for a while.
Let us learn from our mistakes and go forward together to build a better life for all!
