A Snow-Filled Glimpse Of America’s Future -- In These Times

Though no single mega-storm is the fault of climate change, scientists agree that weather—including snow patterns—will become more intense as the planet’s ecosystem is transformed by human-produced pollution. So while New York’s near-record snowstorm may not be the direct result of unbridled carbon emissions, powerful storms like it will undoubtedly be more frequent thanks to our head-in-the-sand attitude toward the environment.
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A real-time counter to demagogues’ more sensational predictions of our doomsday, New York’s winter trouble presents the nation’s gloomy future in more banal — but equally troubling — terms. The blizzard suggests that America’s decline will not look like an Armageddon-ish explosion in Washington. It will look like a traffic-snarling snowdrift in Queens.