What Climate-Driven Hurricane Sandy Teaches about Cooperation
2012 may well be remembered as the year the climate crisis got
real. Superstorm Sandy followed a summer of record-breaking
heat, wildfires, and droughts, during which more than half of
U.S. counties were declared disaster zones. We may at last be to
a point where we can all agree that it's time to tackle the
climate crisis. But there’s another issue that Sandy raises.
Climate models suggest we'll be facing similar disasters with
increasing frequency. So will we, as neighbors and as a nation,
come to the aid of those who lose their home, business, or farm
because of flood, drought, fire, or other climate-related
disaster? Are we a country that comes together in hard times, or
do we come apart? In other words, when things get tough, do we
turn to each other? Or do we turn on each other? The answer to
these questions will define much about how we live together as
we face increasing climate weirdness in coming decades. First
signs out of the hardest-hi