For Immediate
Release:
November 19, 2012
Contact:
Rebecca Silver, 646-461-9831, Rebecca.Siliver@sierraclub.org
Sierra
Club Launches “Climate Comes Home” to collect personal stories about climate
change
Features
photos and reaction from Executive Director Michael Brune’s weekend visit to his childhood
home on the Jersey Shore
SAN
FRANCISCO, CA – Today Sierra Club launches a new site to catalog the
devastation from Hurricane Sandy and other climate events wreaking havoc on our
communities. “Climate Comes Home”
collects and shares stories, photos and videos documenting the human impact of
the latest extreme weather events supercharged by climate disruption.
Sierra
Club Executive Director Michael Brune grew up on Chadwick Beach, NJ, in the
house his father and uncle built. The damage along the shoreline from Hurricane
Sandy is so extensive that the area has been closed since the storm due to sink
holes up to eight feet deep and houses strewn across the road and floating off
into the bay. Michael’s family and their neighbors were permitted to enter the
barrier island for seven hours on Sunday to begin the clean-up process. There
is still no clean water or power in many communities.
“No
matter how high the definition might be on your screen, you can't anticipate
the scale of some disasters until you see them firsthand. Thousands of
homes have been flooded or destroyed. Roads are ripped up, boats sit calmly in
the middle of side streets or on train tracks. There is no heat, no gas, no
power and no water,” said Brune, after arriving in Chadwick Beach.
“Like
many families, there was a foot or two of seawater that came through our
house. The smell hits hard when you open my parents front door, even when
wearing a mask: mold is everywhere. It grows on the walls, in the insulation,
in cabinets and even on lampshades. All the appliances and furniture were ruined.
We were able to save an old folder of campaign materials when my dad first ran for
mayor in the 1970s, but we may not be so lucky with old family photo albums
found soaking wet.”
Photo credit: Julie Dermansky
Hurricane Sandy is only the latest and most devastating
incident in a pattern of destructive weather that has become impossible to
ignore. In 2011, the U.S. suffered through a record-high 14 weather events that
caused at least $1 billion each in damages.
The
Sierra Club is committed to cataloging the human
toll from climate emergencies and using these firsthand experiences to compel
our leaders to solve the climate crisis with bold and immediate actions.
Add
your voice to the climate movement by sharing your story, pictures, or thoughts
on Hurricane Sandy. Visit Climate
Comes Home.
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