A Contrast to Atlanta and San Diego

It's been raining pretty hard over the last few weeks and I promise, I'm not the only one who thinks so (here's someone, and someone else, and another person).

We at NPH continue to be incredibly fortunate in our circumstances and haven't had any damage due to the flooding. Apart from having 25 new little neighbors in the three rooms next to mine last week after another orphanage in our community flooded, it has hardly been noticeable to me.

Many people, however, are not nearly so fortunate as I am. Aside from the major damage on the Atlantic (Caribbean) side caused by Hurricane Felix, a major tropical depression dumped enough rain for the Nicaraguan Rio Grande to overflow it's banks. Nine people died in this flood, 124 rural villages are still unable to be contacted because of road damage, large areas of crops were damaged so that the price of beans has risen significantly and disease has increased among already impoverished vulnerable populations.

It's strange to have this happening in this country while in the US, another country I clearly have a fair amount invested in, fires are raging close to my family in San Diego County after a record dry year.

Why the incredibly disparate weather that is so out of whack? Why has there not been a more concerted effort to find the root causes and change them? Is it because until recently, these disasters have more often hit already impoverished areas?

As I'm sure you already know, I only wish I had the answers to those questions. But our own personal involvement in climate change, however small, in these devastating events show us the power of our decisions as a group. And it begs us to ask, do I want to continue to be a part of that?