Sabelo Narasimhan September 9, 2017
Hurricane Irma, the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, is heading to Florida, after weaving a destructive path through the Caribbean. Climate science tells us that Hurricane Irma is strengthened by warming temperatures - just like Harvey was - making them both much more destructive.
CARIBBEAN SEA - SEPTEMBER 8: In this NOAA handout image, NOAA's GOES satellite shows Hurricane Irma as it moves towards the Florida Coast as a category 4 storm in the Caribbean Sea taken at 14:45 UTC on September 08, 2017. Hurricane Irma barreled through the Turks and Caicos Islands as a category 4 storm en route to a destructive encounter with Florida this weekend. (Photo by NOAA GOES Project via Getty Images)
Texas and Louisiana have barely begun recovering from Harvey. Now Hurricane Irma is whipping through the Caribbean and barreling towards the Florida coast, with Hurricane Jose following closely behind it.
Some of you might have loved ones in the path of Hurricane Irma, or know those who have already been hit by the hurricane. Our thoughts are with them.
This is a crucial moment to support the people impacted — here are two places where you can donate:
Support grassroots organizations in Florida working to help communities recover and rebuild.
Or donate to GlobalGiving's Irma Relief Fund, which vets the local organizations it helps fund and is well-regarded by charity watchdogs.
(We'll continue to share links via email and social media for other accountable relief organizations that you can direct your donations to).
Hurricane Irma, like Harvey before it, or the wildfires blazing across much of the Western United States, are impacting tens of millions of us in the U.S., and throughout the Caribbean.
Tomorrow, Hurricane Irma arrives in Florida after leaving a deadly trail on its way, and is already considered the largest storm ever seen in the Atlantic. Yet another disaster not so natural.
Climate science tells us that Hurricane Irma is strengthened by warming temperatures – just like Harvey was – making them both much more destructive. Here are the major connections:
Storms like Hurricane Irma are made stronger and more deadly by climate change, yet the fossil fuel industry has been sowing doubt for years about the climate crisis. That's just criminal.
The impacts will always be particularly severe on the most marginalized in our society: poor people and communities of color are not only often on the frontlines of these disasters, they also have the least resources to rebuild.
Here is where you can donate to support grassroots organizations in Florida working to help communities recover and rebuild. And here's where you can donate to GlobalGiving's Irma Relief Fund.
The climate crisis is no longer a distant future. It's a clear and present danger. And it's an injustice in every sense of the word.
Together, we will not only recover from these storms, but work to protect our communities from more such climate related disasters in the future.