We're not destroying the earth—we're destroying the life that inhabits it. We're not the victims; we're the perpetrators.

The recent catastrophe in Texas has many contributors, from a town unwilling to accept a tax increase to install a warning system to the DOGE system of government with its drastic reductions in the NOAA budget and the dismissal of 100s of meteorologists.

But as is often the case, we have met the enemy and it is, of course, us. Since the 1980s we have been warned of a changing climate. For over forty years, we have endured fits and starts in addressing the problem, but only when the presidency was held by someone who acknowledged there was one. Trump doesn't. MAGA screams hoax.

And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the National Weather Service had sufficient staff and executed "timely and precise forecasts and warnings." She described what happened as "a once-in-a-century flash flood." Behind that sanctimonious superiority lies a wellspring of ignorance representing the party that denies science. If she were less ignorant, she might realize that she's already lived through numerous once-in-a-century storms. Do the math!

Of course, he party that entrusts our health to a heroin addict, our security to an alcoholic, and our presidency to a far-right totalitarian can't be trusted to speak any semblance of inconvenient truth. In that respect, we can stop politicizing the problem, as the survivors in North Carolina, California, and Texas will concur. It's too late. Now, instead of addressing the root causes, we can only treat the symptoms. Higher sea walls, stronger dams, new building codes, louder alarms—palliative care, not for the earth: the earth will be fine. It's for us.

The catastrophe in Texas offers many lessons, but I would like to offer a simple observation: the word 'catastrophe' is losing its meaning and often renders us victims of circumstance, haplessly waiting for the next event. We've been more irresponsible than hapless, and more criminal.