Science proves the link between expanding carbon emissions and climate change, the impacts of which are accelerating and lasting. Since April 2017, the Atlantic basin has generated thirty-two named storms - sixty percent above average - including some of the most powerful and destructive storms ever recorded. In 2018 alone, two major hurricanes, Florence and Michael, caused billions of dollars of damage and stranded millions of customers without power along the eastern seaboard. In the Western United States, wildfires intensified by climate change consumed homes and lives, leading to utility bankruptcies as well as service disruptions. The message is clear that we have to reduce our carbon footprint dramatically, but even if we do, we are in for a rough ride for some time to come. Our aging fossil-fuel-based energy system, including transmission and distribution lines and power plants, is becoming increasingly vulnerable in an age of global warming, while contributing to that warming itself.
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