The impact and severity of weather events like the tornado that hit Oklahoma City earlier this week are increasing due to a changing global climate, according to research from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
“We get more extremes everywhere, so really it’s climate disruption, the term global warming is not really the best term to use because what we’re seeing, and what we’re expecting to see from all the models, is a lot of extreme events. Not per se the number, but the extremity of them,” says Laurie Johnson, chief economist for the NRDC’s climate and clean air program.
And, she says, more of the related economic fallout from these disasters is being carried by taxpayers.