One of the arguments against offshore wind farms is that the turbines ruin the pristine ocean views. That argument is negated when sea level rise drives the shoreline so far inland the turbines are obscured by the curvature of the Earth. If we put a wind farm off Sandy Hook you’re going to have a hell of a time seeing it from Morristown.
Unseasonably strong storms hit large swaths of the country this week, Jersey included, dumping inches of rain per hour and doing all the things rain does when it has nowhere to go, uprooting trees, pouring into cresting rivers and flooding yards. I hope you and your basement fared well because it’s the new normal. Welcome to climate change America and a lot more is at stake than those boxes of winter clothes in the cellar. If you think floodwater in your basement is frustrating, wait until it hits your living room.
Science rang the alarm bell on climate change long ago, but prior generations were too busy expanding the economy to listen. We may have been too busy cashing checks to do much of anything about the state of the planet we live on but I’ll tell you who’s acutely aware of how bad it’s going to get, your kids.
For them, climate change isn’t a matter of debate, it just is. There’s good news and bad news about raising generations where the idea of catastrophic climate change is considered an inevitability. There’s no way around it, a lot of kids are, like their parents, overwhelmed by the scale of the issue and disengage, the good news is the ones who don’t. They are the innovators and activists who, with any luck, will lead us out of the mess we created.
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.
