HURRICANE BLOGGING


Hurricane Ivan as seen from space, courtesy of NASA

Well, nothing yet.

It's overcast with a bit more of a breeze than usual here in Baton Rouge. We're supposed to get some heavy rain and wind later, but that's not here yet, so I really don't have anything interesting to say that's not already being said by about a billion news outlets. Well, I should say to pray for or send your energy out to or keep your fingers crossed for the people in Mississippi and Alabama who are about to get hit. Hurricanes F'ing suck, and I am indeed relieved that we're being spared. Guess I said something to that effect last night, but whatever.

Anyway, I really wanted to do some hurricane blogging, so I did manage to come up with a topical link which combines this dastardly weather with the greedy capitalists against whom I so often rail.

From Wired:

Ivan May Just Be a Messenger

Hurricane Ivan is among the most powerful Atlantic storms in recent history, and more such storms are likely in the future due to global warming, say climate experts.

"Global warming is creating conditions that (are) more favorable for hurricanes to develop and be more severe," said Kevin Trenberth, head of the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

While few climate and hurricane experts are willing to go that far publicly, there is little debate that the Earth is retaining more of the sun's energy than in the past. Emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide act as an extra blanket that keeps some of the sun's energy from dissipating into space. The extra energy from this "greenhouse effect" has already warmed the Earth by about 1 degree Fahrenheit, according to the 2001 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report is based on evidence and research from more than 2,500 scientists from about 100 countries.

Hurricanes need warm water, and the oceans are heating up, as evidenced by the 1 1/4-inch rise in global sea levels over the past 10 years, said Trenberth. The additional heat is causing most of this sea level rise because of thermal expansion -- just as a very full pot of water heated on a stove will spill over.

Click here for the rest.

Just to connect the dots a bit, the greenhouse gasses which cause global warming aren't simply an unfortunate effect of our prosperous economy. Rather, the government and corporations make specific policy decisions that result in the mass emission of these gasses; it doesn't have to be this way.

For instance, America's reliance on the automobile for transportation isn't just because cars are cool. It's because the auto industry has acted for decades to supress public transportation--this even went as far as buying up numerous pre-existing trolly systems early in the 20th century in order to have them dismantled. That's just one example. Now multiply it by, oh, I don't know, a million or so, and you can see the scope of the problem.

The hurricane is a natural occurance, to be sure. But it seems that corporate forces that have been given free rein by the government to do as they will are aggravating nature's wrath. It's going to get worse, and I don't hear John Kerry saying a damned thing about stopping it.

Of course, Kerry's not as bad as Bush.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$