Weird or wild weather makes people wonder about global warming's effect on meteorology.
You can understand why. Global warming's long timelines and seemingly small temperature changes -- one or two degrees -- can be hard to apprehend and appreciate. Winds blowing at hundreds of kilometers an hour, flooding, horizontal rain . . . that kind of weather we can understand. And fear.
Most polls show people fear stronger, more frequent hurricanes because of climate change, but they're not concerned about coastal flooding because of rising sea levels.
Scientists say that view is backwards. Flooding's the biggest threat, and a more potentially devastating and widespread threat than hurricanes.
But is there a connection between extreme weather and global warming? The answer's not definitive. But this story in the New York Times Science section offers the latest research and a good survey of the different theories about all the connections between climate and hurricanes. And with hurricane season's official start on June 1, it's timely -- especially for people on the southeastern coast of the United States.
Lora Bruncke
Interesting, I also believe rising tides and flooding is the bigger issue. To me, it is common sense to relate rising tides and extreme weather to biosphere destruction. Our man made pollutants also compromise our ozone. Won't global warming and the melting of the ice cap help heat up O2 and create ozone over Antartica? I consider Chomsky a new age Noa(m)(h). Sounds like you, Dr. Suzuki, and Al Gore are also likely condidates. I am pagan but I do believe the story of Noah and his ark. Today we are faced with the same issue, potential destruction of the planet. God may have done it in Noah's time, but man is playing a huge part in it this time.
Eli
Gosh, us humans are an irrational bunch. We find it so hard to wrap our heads around long-term threats. I guess storms are just more glamorous! :-)
Sterling Undem
We need a War on climate change, but the enemy is us and difficult to demonize. Although a long an NDP member I think we need a War time coalition party made up of Liberal, NDP and Green to work together and run single candidates to form Federal government and provide leadership for the world.