I remember when a bad hurricane season was a year in which one hurricane hit the United States. In 2003 two hurricanes and 4 large tropical storms hit the US. In 2004, four hurricanes and three large tropical storms hit the US. In 2005, six hurricanes and two large tropical storms hit the United States, the most memorable of which was Katrina. Of course this ignores all the storms and hurricanes which hit other parts of the Caribbean and Mexico but did not make landfall on the US mainland.
After two relatively quiet hurricane seasons (for the US anyway) things seem to have taken a turn for the worse again. So far this year, two large hurricanes have hit the Gulf coast, and one large tropical storm (Hannah) hit the eastern seaboard. The property damage from Hurricane Ike is likely to be the costliest in our history. We still don’t know the full impact to the oil refineries and other infrastructure which is vital to the production of gasoline and fuel oil, but the economic impact from the damage done, and the delay in restoring production will no doubt be tremendous.
I know these are the rawest of raw data points, but doesn’t this tell us something (along with all the other information about retreating glaciers, melting arctic ice, high temperatures, warmer winters, etc.) about the inherent insanity of continuing to pump large amounts of carbon emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere due to our near total reliance on the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation? And yet, what is our energy plan? More drilling for oil off the coast by the major oil companies.
To paraphrase Shakespeare: What fools we mortals be when we continually practice to deceive ourselves.
As I wrote recently, we are coming to one of those immensely important pivot points in the history of the human species where survival is on the table. Part of the human race is blinded by the pursuit of riches and will not or cannot recognize the dangers posed by a life style based on consumption.
Unfortunately, many proponents of this life style have reached positions of eminence in the leadership of units we call nations; that is, bankers, manufacturers, investors, military men and women, and, of course, political and religious leaders. They use their influence to inhibit, indeed block attempts at significant reform.
Perhaps, in the name of global sanity and survival, people who are for or indifferent to the ecological dangers that we face will be disciplined through tax or other punitive measures. Perhaps, a new political grouping will come into being; one that will place first the welfare of the planet and one that will be empowered to take any means necessary to protect the earth. Any means necessary including imprisonment and death.
The coming days will be fascinating, indeed.
Necessity breaks iron. Republicans watch out. Nemesis has joined your growing list of enemies.
Gore or not Gore, I don’t think the average American is really getting it. It is a catastrope in the making that is apparently easily rebuffed by political adversaries.
Believe what you want to believe, one belief against another. The big problem is really the price of gasoline, and the politician who solves that problem, wins.
Sort of like Mother Nature took a swipe at all those oil facilities in Texas.
I’ve noticed that the MSM has avoided discussion of global warming and the ass-kicking we are getting every hurricane season. The closest we get to a connection is an announcement of gas prices in Atlanta every time a refinery goes under water.
I’d like to see an Obama ad about energy. Something like:
“We need oil. Our economy runs on it. But it’s foolish to depend on it alone. Right now Ireland gets X% of its energy from wind power. [Visual of red-headed Irish children leading a donkey through fields of windmills] German scientists and businesses have combined to get X% of Germany’s energy from solar power. [Visual of well-scrubbed blonde children playing next to solar panels] Even Patagonia generates more electricity from gerbil treadmills than the U.S. generates from alternative sources. [Visual of lightbulbs powered from wires running from gerbil cages] And yet America has been held back in the development of new energy sources. The Republican Party’s policies have led us to our crisis at the gas pump. [Visual shot of RNC conventioneers’ ugly faces chanting “Drill, baby, drill!”] Even the oil companies tell us we won’t see more than a few pennies relief in our gasoline prices from new off-shore drilling, and not for another twenty years! We need real change in our energy policies. Now. We need Barack Obama for President.”
What me worry?
Ah! Another follower of the Alfred E. Newman philosophy. Hey, you can’t live forever.
The remnants of Ike passed through here yesterday afternoon. We had sustained 50-60 mph winds for 3 hours with gusts up to 78 mph here locally. We lost power at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. They’re telling us the earliest it will be restored is sometime tomorrow evening. In many places it might take up to a week. Trees down everywhere, shingles and siding ripped off and several people killed from the falling trees.
It was called by local weather people an event “never before seen in this area”.
These weather extremes still don’t seem to really make people sit up and take notice. Unprecedented droughts, never before seen amounts of rainfall and the increasing frequency of monstrous storms and most people still deny that we could possibly have anything to do with these occurrences.
As more news comes in it’s become apparent that Galveston has suffered a terrible blow. The videos I’ve seen show massive destruction along the west end and on Bolivar peninsula at the east end.
It’s very sad for me as I lived there for a few years in the early 70’s and my fondest memories are of Galveston and the people I knew there. I stayed in touch with school friends for years but haven’t been in touch in the last 5 or so years. Now I wish I had because I want to know how they are.
The famous Balinese Room on the seawall for almost a century is gone. Murdochs souvenir shop, gone. The Sandpiper…I remember all of these places. I can only imagine what East Beach, where I lived with my family in a trailer below the seawall looks like now.
Having been a part of the efforts to bring relief to Homestead Florida 2 days after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and knowing first hand what a devastating hurricane can do, I feel somewhat helpless now as my natural inclination is to be there, to help in some way.
It’s awful.