The Environment is the Economy, Stupid.

“If you choose to stay … you are going to die,” said the mayor of Tampa, Florida, two days before Hurricane Milton was predicted to make landfall — less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene wrought biblical destruction from the coasts to the mountain tops. If ever there was a time to talk about the consequences of Earth’s heating, it’s now — but not in the usual terms.

Every election since James Carville said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” it’s been the economy.

By any measure, Helene was one of the most expensive hurricanes in US history. Although still preliminary, Hurricane Milton will not be far behind. The two storms have affected “more than 200 counties encompassing 31 million people in six states.

The coffers of the two primary federal disaster response groups — FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Administration) and SBA (the Small Business Administration) — are unlikely able to cover their relief responsibilities without much larger appropriations. The politicization of federal disaster relief has made cooperation challenging even when the need was apparent and time of the essence.

A preliminary damage estimate by AccuWeather is that Hurricane Helene has resulted in damages of between $225 to $250 billion. The number is considerably higher than the initial estimates of others. It is also…