My heart is broken.
My heart is broken for Houston, for Cuba, for Florida, for Mexico, and for all the islands hit by these hurricanes in the last few weeks.
My heart breaks for Mexico and anyone else affected by the earthquake that hit because of the hurricane.
My heart is also broken for California, Washington, Colorado and every other state that is being ravished by fires.
My heart is broken for Italy, Bosnia, Southern Cali, Spain, and every other place sweating in triple digit heat waves.
My heart breaks for India, Bangladesh, and everywhere getting slammed with monsoons, and my heart breaks for places such as Sierra Leone and Niger who have been hit with mudslides and massive flooding.
My heart breaks for any person who is experiencing what it’s like to literally lose EVERYTHING. The people that are struggling to survive, to stay afloat, to just keep moving forward.
My heart breaks for the world.
My heart breaks for our planet.
Climate Change is real you guys. Many of you know this. But many of the people who have the power to help us fix it, STILL refuse to believe in it. The rising temperatures, the melting ice, nothing could force them to believe that our planet is dying. The wild fires, the flooding. Nothing is forcing them to open their eyes. Now Houston is under water, Mexico is broken, multiple states are on fire. We’ve had Harvey, Irma AND Katia wreck us, with Jose close behind. These hurricanes were not Category one storms. They were Category 4 Storms, Category 5 storms. Storms that broke records and Irma lasted longer as a Category 5 storm than any other in history. I saw a video on facebook that someone took in the Bahamas, the water disappeared! All you could see was the ocean floor, for miles, as far out as the eye can see. I later looked up why that happens and it said it was because Hurricane Irma was so strong that it was literally pulling the water into the atmosphere, and it’s incredibly dangerous because that water will eventually come back, and when it does, it’ll be with a force of fury and you will NOT want to be anywhere near that area. Mind blowing. The simple truth? The warmer the oceans, the more intense the storms. The heat of the water can supercharge the storms. 38 hours before Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston, it was still a tropical storm, but due to the fact that the waters in the gulf are so warm, they supercharged the storm, doubling its intensity. And why are our oceans so warm you might ask? because of global warming and climate change.
Click this link here https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/hurricane-harvey-and-climate-change-here-are-facts for some more information AND find the series “years of living dangerously” and/or check out their website, www.yearsoflivingdangerously.com
Obviously, it’s hurricane season, hurricanes are natural, BUT Climate Change has absolutely made them more destructive and more frequent. It’s scientific fact. Scientists have warned of this, they’ve predicted this. And even as Harvey, Irma, Katia and potentially Jose look to shake the US, not to even mention all the other natural disasters happening around the entire WORLD, our government here in the United States, STILL, refuses to see that Climate Change is real, it’s real and it’s because of US. This isn’t some crazy concept that some earth loving hippies ( like myself ) made up, its proven by SCIENTISTS. It still amazes me that with ALL the information out there, many people still can’t grasp that we’re murdering our only planet. Yeah, our ONLY PLANET.
It terrifies me, that we will have a president, who called Climate Change a hoax, still doesn’t believe it is real, is cutting funding for climate scientists, trying to erase facts and anything related to the issue at hand, AND placing people in charge of super important departments that have no place being there, will be in office for another, what feels like a century, and will be aiding in the death of our planet.
We as individuals can do our part, going green, changing diets, just being aware. Recycling, watching our electrical usage, our gas usage, SO many things can be done by a single person, that will, in the long run, make a huge difference. I’ve put up posts before on ways you and I can make a difference such as this one https://missraee.wordpress.com/2017/04/20/20-things-you-can-do-to-protect-the-earth/ and others under my plant based and cruelty free tab. And a simple google search will do as well!
On a more personal note. I’m incredibly passionate about this. So much so it probably drives my family crazy. With my need to buy environmentally friendly fabric softener, hand soap and shampoo. My desire to always recycle. My plant based diet, and just my all around need to do anything that I can to do my part in saving the planet. I don’t have a lot of money, so no, not everything I own and use is environmentally friendly and I’m not perfect. But anytime I can, I try to buy and do things that help to reduce my carbon footprint in any way that I can. I’m passionate about this, and I’m an emotional person SO when I see people who could make a HUGE difference, and at this point literally save lives, and they down right refuse, it makes me extremely angry. It makes me extremely sad to think about what it must be like to lose everything. To border up your home and hope for the best, and then to lose that home. To have nothing but the clothes on your back. Whether it’s wildfire, hurricanes or tornadoes. Unfortunately that’s just apart of nature, and mother nature is a powerful, powerful being, and right now she is seriously pissed off. We’re killing her, and not enough people are doing anything to even slow it down.
Living in CT, we’ve gotten pretty lucky. We’ve avoided most of these disasters, other than super hot and super cold temperatures and our pain in the ass winters, which I’m sure are only going to get worse. I can appreciate these beautiful days we’ve had here the last couple of weeks because I know how so many don’t have that privilege right now. It was raining a few days ago, pretty strongly, just a regular old thunderstorm, slightly severe, and many were online posting about “oh i hate rain, oh I wish this rain would stop, oh this rain is ruining my night” and I couldn’t help but think to myself that we were lucky. We were lucky that this was just a thunderstorm, while Houston was currently underwater, and Florida was bracing for the same result. I know that some people just don’t think like that, and that’s just them, but for me I’m always thinking like that. Maybe it’s my anxiety, or maybe I’m just over emotional, who knows.
I wasn’t personally affected by Harvey, or Irma, or Katia, and Jose is unknown. None of my family or friends were effected either. And for that, I am grateful. Regardless of there being no personal affect to me, my heart still breaks for all those people who these disasters are affecting. My heart beamed to see so many come together to raise money for Houston. JJ Watts fundraiser raised over 30 million dollars, which is absolutely mindblowing, Jensen Ackles and company raised almost $400,000 last time I checked I believe and there are SO many more. The one good thing about all of this heartbreak is that in a country that is INCREDIBLY divided right now, we were able to come together for Houston, and I hope we do the same for Florida and everyone else. I read a quote today while scrolling through twitter and it said ” The water will rise, and so will we” That is an incredibly motivating way to look at all of this. To anyone who has been affected, not just by the hurricanes, but by any of the natural disasters happening, that maybe not enough people are talking about, please know that there are people thinking of you, and looking for ways to help. To anyone looking for ways to help, some ways are, the redcross, united way, salvation army, Food banks, animal shelters, Diaper Banks, and a ton more! There’s so many ways that have been set up to help, people, young, adult and elderly. To help our furry friends and to aid our incredible first responders. Social Media is a really great place to find out who is in need of what and how exactly to help. I am constantly retweeting and sharing anything I see, because you literally NEVER know who could come across it, and who it might help.
I hope that in the wake of these disasters more people open their eyes and realize it might be time to make a few changes in their lives. I hope that it makes people more aware. I hope that it makes people come together. I hope it makes people realize that this is bigger than politics and personal opinions. It’s about people lives, it’s about being human beings. It’s about coming together, to be there for one another. That’s all we can do right now, be there for one another, and as all of this continues to unravel, I hope we can continue to do that.
Miss Raee 