Hurricane Florence has destroyed much of the coastal plains in my home state of North Carolina. In fact, it destroyed much of my hometown as it crashed into the east coast.
North Carolina is no stranger to hurricanes, though; every year either the residual or direct effects of hurricanes are felt by the coastal state.
However, like many fellow Republican states, North Carolina refuses to do anything about the issue. The fact is, due to global warming, these hurricanes will only get worse and state legislators refuse to care.
North Carolina may house one of the most corrupt general assemblies in the country, but they still should be doing everything in their power to prevent it from being destroyed. They still have to live there, after all.
Instead, the North Carolina General Assembly has seen fit to pass a law that inhibits the use of studies on rising sea levels.
I guess this would be expected from the same assembly that forced transgender people to use the bathroom of their gender at birth, a bill which directly negatively affected both North Carolina’s reputation and GDP growth.
Yet, I still expect my state assembly to save the very ground they live on. It is ludicrous that they would rather turn a blind eye than save the beautiful state I was raised in. The entire coastal plane will turn into a floodplain by the time I’m 40.
Such flooding would be catastrophic for North Carolina. Tourism would decrease significantly, there would be millions in property damage each year, and most importantly, thousands of people would leave for drier land.
I care about my state and I do not want to see it devastated by the rising sea levels. However, I do not believe that anything will be done to prevent that from happening.
Nothing short of careful planning, innovative shore conversation efforts and effective environmental policies could save the coastal plains from being permanently flooded. Unfortunately instead, we have short-sighted fools writing the laws in North Carolina for short-term economic gain.
The North Carolina General Assembly continues to write unimportant laws instead of tackling the climate change issue. Recently, bill-810 was introduced that allows schools to not have to reach the required amount of days if they have to close school due to extreme inclement weather — a bit ironic to say the least.
We, as a voting populace in Indiana, need to elect leaders can see past their own greed and lifespans, and who will not make similar mistakes like those of the assembly in North Carolina. If we do not, the damage done today might not be obvious, but it will detrimentally impact our children’s lives.
Register to vote, and then use that vote wisely. It is our duty as citizens to both elect officials and hold them accountable to their actions. If we do not perform the latter, then there is no point to elections at all. Democracy is a two-way street between the constituency and the politician. Sadly, North Carolina has forgotten that aspect in favor of complacency.
