Letter: Climate change adding to refuge surge
Why are there so many refugees at our southern border? Why have there been so many from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras? Several reasons apply, but I wish to focus on the contributions from climate change.
The average temperature in Central America has increased enough to cut arid swaths through farmland and decimate crops, including coffee on which 90% of growers depend. In 2020, tropical storms Eta (category 4) and Iota (cat 5) pummeled these countries with heavy rains that caused flooding and dozens of catastrophic landslides. Currently drought prevails. Much of the corn crop has failed, and many families are now malnourished.
Republican politicians, climate change deniers for the last 30 years, promote fossil fuels. Even though wind power is significantly less expensive than coal, Indiana promotes coal and erects barriers to wind. A side effect is these politicians have hastened climate change. Many other states are like Indiana, spewing carbon dioxide. Republicans don’t want immigrants at our southern border, but they bear some responsibility for creating the situation.
Norm Holy, Bloomington
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Letter: Climate change adding to refuge surge
