Unlike A Lot Of The Media, Beyoncé Won’t Deny The Link Between Hurricane Harvey And Climate Change

· Updated on May 28, 2018

Once again, I’d rather get my news from Beyoncé.

Nicki Minaj, Barbra Streisand, and a number of other super famous people stepped up to aid in hurricane relief Tuesday night by making cameo appearances during Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Harvey, a Comic Relief USA television special that raised over $15 million for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Among them was Beyoncé, who gave what Cosmopolitan described as a “powerful speech” by way of the following video message.

“During a time where it’s impossible to watch the news without seeing violence or racism in this country, just when you think it couldn’t possibly get worse, natural disasters take precious life, do massive damage, and forever change lives, leaving behind contaminated water, flooded hospitals, schools, and nursing homes,” she said. “In my home town city of Houston, people need food, clothing, cleaning supplies, blankets, shoes, diapers, and formula for babies. And, of course, clean water. The elderly need wheelchairs and kids new books and toys so they can continue to dreamTrue healing is in helping. Please, give what you can.”

As Beyoncé continued, she made it clear that these hurricanes and the similarly devastating natural disasters hitting every corner of the world over the past few weeks are entirely linked to climate change.

“The effects of climate change are playing out around the world every day,” she said. “Just this past week, we’ve seen devastation from the monsoon in India, an 8.1 earthquake in Mexico, and multiple catastrophic hurricanes. Irma alone has left a trail of death and destruction from the Caribbean to Florida to the southern United States. We have to be prepared for what comes next. So tonight, we come together in a collective effort to raise our voices, to help our communities, to lift our spirits, and heal.”

Queen of connecting increasingly common and catastrophic weather events with their shared root cause! ABC whom? When will NBC?? Fox News could never!!!!

No, but like actually. Last week, Media Matters published a study examining ABC and NBC’s consistent failure to “[mention] the link between climate change and hurricanes like Harvey.” Fox News has evenbrought on climate change deniers like meteorologist Roy Spencer to outright dismiss any such connection, the progressive media watchdog found.

“These weather events are directly related to climate change, and we need to take that seriously,” Thanu Yakupitiyage, the U.S. communications manager of the clean energy advocacy organization 350, told INTO. “A celebrity like Beyoncé using her platform to really speak the truth, that these are not isolated weather events but are, in fact, all connected, is really, really important.”

Yakupitiyage added that, while fundraising after the fact is important, “it’s not enough to pump money into recovery efforts.”

“We need long-term solutions,” she said. “Actually addressing climate change means looking at the fossil fuel industry and making sure we’re [working at the local and congressional level to move] away from fossil fuels and towards 100% renewable energy.”

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