As Hurricane Ike makes its way towards the Lone Star State, we must ask if this is a natural storm, or one that was made by us? The answer is we simply don't know. When Katrina hit New Orleans, it gained power in the days leading up to that strike from warmer than average waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Is the warming due to climate change? Very likely.
I'm not saying that the hurricane was formed due to climate change, but warmer waters in the Gulf definitely can make them stronger. So as Thomas Friedman says:
When hurricanes and other natural disasters hit, insurance companies and the general media often call them "acts of God." Have we introduced so much CO2 into nature's operating system that we no longer know where nature stops and we start in shaping today's weather? We no longer know..."
And that is what is truly scary.
2 comments:
Warm waters do cause hurricanes to get stronger and pollution causes warmer climates but I still don't believe in Global Warming unless every state has summer all year long (I'm just using the US as an example). When that happens, I'll believe in the global warming hype.
I disagree with Carl. Global warming does exist - just look at our polar caps. By the time every state has summer all year long, it'll be too late.
Thomas Friedman is one of my favorite authors. I had to read The Lexus and the Olive Tree in college and loved it. His anecdotes are just the thing to neatly interrupt explanations of large concepts like globalization.
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