NEWFANE — I found Lori Holder-Webb's article [“Why does this never seem to get easier?,” Voices, Sept. 7] very informative and insightful, especially about the hidden dangers that floods possess. We were victimized by this tropical storm by losing our bridge and driveway, but we certainly did not have it as bad as other folks.
Holder-Webb touched on the “unfairness” of this storm in a northern landlocked state like Vermont. I had the same thought processes going, but I'd like to think that I connected the dots with climate change.
That's not to say that any natural disaster - hurricane, tornado, drought - is inevitable, but the warming of the atmosphere makes these storms more volatile and deadly.
Isn't that what we are seeing these past few years and especially in 2011? Just think, a tropical storm coming this far north, 500 miles wide, with enough punch to dump 11 inches of rain on Vermont! This was followed by the remnants of another tropical storm hitting us with 7 more inches the following week.
Warm air carries more moisture than cold air: that is a fact that weather professionals tell us.
It seems that as a nation we do not like to bring up this very controversial and politicized topic; it is an “inconvenient truth,” as Al Gore prophesied.
I read practically all the articles in The Commons' Voices section, and I do not recall any mention of this phenomenon except the one in which the protestors of the Keystone XL tar sands were arrested for trying to stop the most dangerous of climate changing projects [“Tar sands pipeline protest in Washington was justified - on many levels,” The Commons, Sept. 7].
And, of course, the leading Republican candidate espouses the hoax of climate change as half his state is embroiled in the worst drought in 40 years with wildfires burning.
The irony of it all!