Hurricane Milton is the best argument yet for climate change action

Editorial: The devastation in Florida is part of a terrifying trend – and it’s up to our leaders to finally do something about it

Florida has been rocked by extreme weather (Reuters)

There is a deep irony that Florida, the home base of two of the United States’ most powerful climate change deniers, should have become the scene of the terrible destruction inflicted by Hurricane Milton.

Florida is well used to tropical storms – and Milton is not the first to show up this year. Hurricane Beryl, for example, made landfall in June, unusually soon in the season, and was the earliest category 5 storm on record. Hurricane Milton has triggered more than 100 hurricane warnings – another record.

In other words, the intensity, timing and frequency of these extreme events are trends that are heading in a more destructive direction. The climate is trying to tell humanity something grave about the health of planet Earth. It would be nice to think that the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and the state’s most famous resident, Donald Trump, might be given some pause for thought about their deeply unscientific views, and policies, on climate change.

It is deeply regrettable that the former president has taken it upon himself to spread some outrageous lies about the generosity of the federal aid earmarked for Floridians and claim that it is somehow being pre-empted and spent on migrants. President Biden has had to take to the airways to inject truth and reality into this debate – but a whole flock of canards has taken flight on social media.

These include the absurd claim that “they” are controlling the weather to some (unclear) nefarious damage – an outlandish idea being put about by US congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene, among others.

Despite its long history of tropical storms, some claim Florida is being victimised for its Republican political sympathies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been the subject of such abuse and falsehoods – so much so that it has had to set up a rumour response webpage to try and cut through the hurricane of untruths.

As has been well documented, recent years have seen more and more extreme weather events all over the world. Forest fires in Siberia. Record droughts in Australia. Devastatingly freakish wildfires in Canada. India experiencing its longest-ever heatwave. Glaciers retreating. European ski resorts short of snow. Britain’s wet, wet, wet “summer”.

The hottest year in human history was 2023. Hence the rising sea levels, their increasing warmth, not least in the Gulf of Mexico, and thus the moisture that has fuelled Hurricanes Beryl, Debby, Milton and no doubt other siblings this year.

All this evidence of climate change should help silence the remaining sceptics – but even if it doesn’t, the peoples of the world and their more responsible leaders will be reminded of the urgent need to tackle the crisis.

The Covid pandemic and a succession of bloody wars have tended to push the salience of the environmental challenge further down the global agenda, but it remains the transcendent problem facing mankind. We can see how it has begun to drive migration from the global South, with all the attendant evils of people trafficking and modern slavery – issues highlighted by the former prime minister, Theresa May, in her recent speech at the Independent’s Climate 100 event during the UN General Assembly sessions in New York.

In that context, it is encouraging that the present government is renewing its efforts to decarbonise the British economy and push for further international action. So long derided by his political opponents and media critics, Ed Miliband is proving himself an able and determined warrior in the fight to save the planet. His is a reassuring presence at the cabinet table and when making the case at international conferences.

The scientific consensus is still that it is not too late to contain global warming to the 1.5C specified at the Paris conference almost a decade ago, and there has been progress – albeit not enough – in meeting that commitment.

But, as ever, time is short, and some respected climate scientists are becoming alarmed at the immediate prospects for change, and fear a catastrophic spiral into further climatic chaos.

Their concerns need to be amplified and heeded. Nothing less than life on Earth is at stake. In the meantime, Hurricane Milton represents a powerful argument for action on climate change.