Cliched, but oh so true
I watched a documentary today about climate change. I'm not a climatologist nor do I play one on TV or in the movies. Climate change deniers are vilified. Maybe they should be. Maybe they are engaged in using junk science, no science and are simply the creation of greedy bastards. Holocaust deniers may not be doing it because they're vile scumbags, but they are ignoring the reality of historical evidence.
One thing puzzles me though. Those who say we are seeing real climate change say that we will see more hurricanes and more major hurricanes as a result of such climate change. There are records of hurricanes dating back to 1851, but the numbers are very inaccurate prior to 1966 in terms of total storms. That's because airborne monitoring of storms didn't begin until 1944 and daily satellite imagery didn't become available until 1966. The numbers of hurricanes that made landfall or near-landfall after 1900 in the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions because there were enough people living along the coastlines after 1900.
So if climate change is occuring, and more storms with a higher frequency of more powerful storms are caused by climate change, why don't the numbers support this? The year with the most "major" hurricanes since 1900 was 1950 with 8 (we're referring to Atlantic hurricanes here). The year with the most "named" storms was 2005 with 28, but 1933 wasn't that far behind with 21. The numbers might suggest that there are more storms now than 50 or 75 years ago, or they might indicate that the storms are just monitored more efficiently.
Then again, there's another measure we can use to see if climate change is changing the patterns of weather. There's a measure known as ACE (Accumulated Cyclone Energy) which is an index that counts the number of storms per year, how long they lasted and their level of intensity. It's a much more efficient measure than just the number of storms. The ACE has definitely been on the rise the past 50 years, on average.
Scientific data on both sides of the question. So who do we believe? I think there's more denial of climate change because of the profit motive of oil companies and the like; but that both sides have agenda and the actual truth lies between. However, it is at a point between the two camps that is much, much closer to the side that is telling us our climate is changing. Maybe almost all the way in that direction.
One doesn't need to hear about the danger of climate change to know that we have not been good custodians of the planet we live on, nor have we properly taken care of our environment.
Just one more thought. The arguments of those advocating we change our behavior to better care for our world might be received a little better without the hypocrisy. Al Gore, George Clooney, Laurie David and Darryl Hannah don't take public transportation. They don't fly commercial for the most part. They ride around in big gas guzzling limousines. They fly on private jets that gulp fuel like crazy. They live in big houses that cost more to light, heat and cool than the average citizen. So hearing them preach about how we should act does sound a bit hollow at times.
One thing puzzles me though. Those who say we are seeing real climate change say that we will see more hurricanes and more major hurricanes as a result of such climate change. There are records of hurricanes dating back to 1851, but the numbers are very inaccurate prior to 1966 in terms of total storms. That's because airborne monitoring of storms didn't begin until 1944 and daily satellite imagery didn't become available until 1966. The numbers of hurricanes that made landfall or near-landfall after 1900 in the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions because there were enough people living along the coastlines after 1900.
So if climate change is occuring, and more storms with a higher frequency of more powerful storms are caused by climate change, why don't the numbers support this? The year with the most "major" hurricanes since 1900 was 1950 with 8 (we're referring to Atlantic hurricanes here). The year with the most "named" storms was 2005 with 28, but 1933 wasn't that far behind with 21. The numbers might suggest that there are more storms now than 50 or 75 years ago, or they might indicate that the storms are just monitored more efficiently.
Then again, there's another measure we can use to see if climate change is changing the patterns of weather. There's a measure known as ACE (Accumulated Cyclone Energy) which is an index that counts the number of storms per year, how long they lasted and their level of intensity. It's a much more efficient measure than just the number of storms. The ACE has definitely been on the rise the past 50 years, on average.
Scientific data on both sides of the question. So who do we believe? I think there's more denial of climate change because of the profit motive of oil companies and the like; but that both sides have agenda and the actual truth lies between. However, it is at a point between the two camps that is much, much closer to the side that is telling us our climate is changing. Maybe almost all the way in that direction.
One doesn't need to hear about the danger of climate change to know that we have not been good custodians of the planet we live on, nor have we properly taken care of our environment.
Just one more thought. The arguments of those advocating we change our behavior to better care for our world might be received a little better without the hypocrisy. Al Gore, George Clooney, Laurie David and Darryl Hannah don't take public transportation. They don't fly commercial for the most part. They ride around in big gas guzzling limousines. They fly on private jets that gulp fuel like crazy. They live in big houses that cost more to light, heat and cool than the average citizen. So hearing them preach about how we should act does sound a bit hollow at times.
posted by me at 4:12 PM
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