The flooding in Houston and suffering of the people is heartbreaking to watch. I fear things will get worse as the situation continues. Many people are coming together to help each other in a time when it’s becoming clearer that this system is utterly incapable of preparing for and taking care of people’s needs, especially when confronted with such a devastating “natural” disaster. It’s important that people do anything they can to help people and to demand their needs for food, safety, rescue, etc. are met.
One site I have come across (from 350.org) is environmental justice groups raising money to help people there.
The specter of the fascist Trump, fresh off of pardoning the racist oppressor Joe Arpaio and defending neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Chalottsville, trying to cynically cash in by visiting Texas and acting like everything is ok while not even addressing those suffering, is stomach-churning and abominable.
Trump has gutted climate research and measures to confront it, proposed huge budget cuts for natural disaster preparedness and response, and gutted an Obama era flood protection rule. Harvey is a storm climatologists are saying is likely fueled by climate change-both by warming of Gulf waters and also increasing amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere. For deeper understanding of this, see the following:
Piece in the Atlantic, including quotes from climatologist Kevin Trenberth.
This piece from Ecowatch.
And this piece in Truthout by Dahr Jamail.
More pieces making this link to climate change and warning about the future.
Rolling Stone-Houston, a Global Warning by Jeff Goodell
As I tweeted about Goodell’s piece in retweet of Tim Ream
Good piece, looking underneath phenomena Goodell cites shows this isn’t simply man-made catastrophe, but one caused by capitalist system
Interview with James Hansen by Democracy Now
Harvey is What Climate Change Looks Like– by Eric Holthaus
There is also an increasing problem of toxic pollution from chemical plants, oil processing plants, etc. poisoning people in the wake of Harvey. And this will disproportionately impact poor people and oppressed nationality people.
Under Trump’s sacrificing of any rules and regulations protecting the environment to expand capitalist profitability, and his fascist attacks against Black people, Latinos, women, the law, the media and the poor of the planet-these type of situations will continue and get dangerously worse- as climate change and environmental disaster worsen. Only the people, rising together, can put a stop to this fascist regime.
More deeply, as Goodell’s article points out without really naming the source of the problem, the problems with doing away with flood protections, zoning limiting growth in flood zones, wetlands, etc. predate Trump. Underneath all of these phenomena are the rules and functioning of a capitalist system that is driven by competition and profitability, and therefore incapable of taking account of either the safety of the environment or the people of the planet. We need a global uprising of people, and revolution.
For the Planet and Humanity 
Your thee best
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