For many NC State students, life went on after Matthew ravaged the southeast corner of our state, after unprecedented forest fires raged in the Appalachians of western North Carolina and it will soon again as Florence recedes to the north. But perhaps coping with these increasingly serious natural disasters by returning to business-as-usual isn’t a good enough solution, because their severity is not normal at all.
As most readers are well aware, climate change in our era is caused primarily by the relentless dumping of man-made gases into the atmosphere, which thickens it, trapping in excess heat from the sun that would normally have been reflected back into space. This extra heat pulls more moisture out of lands and oceans; moisture taken from the ocean contributes to more intense precipitation events, while dried-out land leads to longer-lasting droughts and disastrous wildfires. North Carolina is not immune to these global consequences; consider, for example, the widespread Appalachian fires of 2016 or the life-threatening floods brought in by Hurricane Matthew.
90 percent of the extra heat trapped by our thickened atmosphere goes into our oceans, which means that storms like Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut are able to become stronger as they churn up warmer water in the ocean. Formerly, the seas could maintain cooler temperatures below the surface, weakening hurricanes as storms drew up cold water that siphoned off some of their energy.
Now, however, the water is warm down to depths of 2,000 meters, so hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are able to gain more energy before landfall. At the same time, lower temperature differences between the equator and the poles rob environmental steering winds of their power, meaning that hurricanes move slower.
Thus, the heat held by our thickened atmosphere poses a threefold threat relating to hurricanes: it pumps more moisture into them, turbo-charges their cyclic winds and makes them linger longer over land. That’s why the Southeast has been seeing more destructive hurricanes; consider the damage and devastation left in the wake of last year’s storms Harvey and Maria. Now we can add Florence to the list. And as our dependence on fossil fuels remains largely unaddressed, scientists anticipate more intense and frequent disasters – fires, droughts, hurricanes and more.
Inevitable though it may seem, the wreckage that climate change and its consequences are wreaking on North Carolina can be mitigated with a combination of action and adaptation.
First of all, we need a legislature that won’t make it illegal to use the latest science to inform emergency preparedness. Yes, that’s right. Six years ago, our General Assembly actually made it illegal to use anything other than linear equations to model sea level rise in regards to coastal planning, even though equations modelling faster growth would be more accurate. As a math major, I can assure you that accurate models of sea level rise are not beholden to the law.
Banning accurate science in official planning poses obvious risks for those living on the coast, and those risks are amplified as hurricanes bring in larger storm surges and higher rainfall. If you’re concerned about North Carolina’s adaptation to climate change, you need to VOTE this November. Sites like https://www.sierraclub.org/north-carolina/endorsements list candidates who are going to advocate for using accurate science to plan developments and prepare for disasters.
Alongside proper adaptation efforts, we can also mitigate the worst effects of climate change by addressing our dependence on fossil fuels. This entails putting an end to new fossil fuel infrastructure development, implementing clean energy solutions and committing to cut off the financial power of the fossil fuel sector by removing investments in it.
You can do this on a personal scale by moving your personal bank account to an institution that does not invest in pipelines or fossil fuel companies (check out https://www.divestinvest.org/how-to-divestinvest/individuals/ for resources on how to do this), and you can also advocate for powerful institutions to divest. To get involved with UNC System divestment efforts, reach out to @ClimateRealityNCSU on Facebook.
While climate change increasingly contributes to the natural disasters our state faces, it’s imperative to step up and act. It is up to North Carolinians to elect informed and responsible decision-makers, to advocate for clean energy solutions and to engage others in conversations about stopping climate change before we reach the point of no return. This is one of the greatest challenges facing our generation, and it can’t be solved with apathy.
Meredith Bain is a fourth-year studying mathematics and president of Climate Reality Project at NC State
