Is there anything positive to be extracted from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey?

Certainly not for all those thousands who have been directly affected. For all of those, the extended storm has been nothing less than a catastrophe if not a disaster. Lives have been lost, cars flooded, homes destroyed; by far the worst experiences  most of them have ever suffered.

Round the world there have been exceptional weather exposures: floods, wildfires, drought, ice melts and avalanches, earthquakes. The ice is melting in the Arctic.

One really has to be deaf, blind or dumb (or Donald Trump!) to believe that all of these weather extremes are not related to Global Warming (Warning).

So those who have little or no idea where are those towns in New Zealand or Central Italy where there has been exceptional earthquake activity; or little or no comprehension of the drought which has reduced water supplies in the Western Cape to a drip; or to all those many other towns or locations or countries where really strange weather has produced destruction beyond historical records, perhaps Harvey will prove to be the catalyst for the US administration not only to support but even to lead action to control and reverse the impact of global warming,

Please, Mr President, wake up! You are not Rip van Winkle.”