Even before Hurricane Helene knocked down a pine tree in Melissa Hanson’s backyard, crushing the roof above her son’s bedroom in her house in Asheville, North Carolina, she was connecting the storm’s severity to climate change. “This hurricane is tied to our failure to address the climate crisis,” said Hanson, who sheltered with family eight hours away in the Outer Banks so that her children wouldn’t miss school.
Hanson is a climate advocate who recently penned a powerful essay for Scientific American in which she described how some neighbors lost their homes while others “saw their loved ones wash away.” She said she hopes to return to her home soon but schools aren’t expected to open for several more weeks in Asheville.
