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Cleaning Up
Oct. 30th, 2012 09:10 amHurricane Season supposedly runs from June 1 through November 30. But, of course, most of the action happens before summer ends.
But in recent years, it seems like the season has extended, by a lot! We start getting named storms in May, and they run right up till the end of the season, with Sandy here being a huge example of a powerful late storm.
It's pretty bad when you have parts of the city turning into parts of the river. Of course we were better prepared for a storm because of the infrastructure the city has in place compared to the more rural and suburban areas nearby. However there's a fire still burning out of control as I type this in the Breezy Point section of Queens that has already burned through 50 homes and is threatening even more. Over 200 fire fighters are at the scene trying to corral that blaze in the still high blowing winds.
It's difficult to think that the process of global warming doesn't have something to do with it. As we pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, as more UV rays penetrate the ozone, and as the mean temperature for the planet continues upward incrementally, aren't we going to be seeing more and more frankenstorms? And by "more and more," I mean literally more storms every year with the storms being more massive, more threatening and more damaging.
Even though we in NYC were dealt a glancing blow from Sandy and not the direct hit that was expected by some, we still have a massive cleanup to take care of, the likes of which has never been seen. Water from the Hudson and East rivers is all over the place and though some of it receded on its own, a lot more is going to need to be pumped out. The Subways are going to be closed for at least today, along with our airports... but likely they will remain closed longer, which means that life in the city is going to be put on hold for at least that long. Many people lost power, many people lost trees and some people in truly tragic stories lost loved ones.
Certainly there are scientists that have suggested storms affected by global warming is the case, and the famed documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" spelled it out in fairly straightforward terms. That was six years ago. And during that time, there's been a huge argument about the validity of it all. Why change when you can just stick your head in the sand? Or, more to the point, why change when you are the one profiting?
So, what's the answer now? Are we just going to continue to do what we do or can we alter our behavior? Or maybe more importantly, will the people in power start to acknowledge that this is a part of what's actually going on: that our own actions are having an impact on our environment? Because if that doesn't happen, we will continue the argument about why this is happening, instead of starting to do the things to prevent it.
Some scientists say that there is a "tipping point" that we are gradually reaching; it's a place where there's no going back and our fate is sealed... The crest of the first long hill of a roller coaster where the results are inevitable. If we don't do anything before we reach that point, we may be doomed to a new kind of earth, with oppressively hot summers, no polar ice caps, and more super storms like Sandy, every hurricane season.
Forget Halloween. THAT is the scary stuff.
But in recent years, it seems like the season has extended, by a lot! We start getting named storms in May, and they run right up till the end of the season, with Sandy here being a huge example of a powerful late storm.
It's pretty bad when you have parts of the city turning into parts of the river. Of course we were better prepared for a storm because of the infrastructure the city has in place compared to the more rural and suburban areas nearby. However there's a fire still burning out of control as I type this in the Breezy Point section of Queens that has already burned through 50 homes and is threatening even more. Over 200 fire fighters are at the scene trying to corral that blaze in the still high blowing winds.
It's difficult to think that the process of global warming doesn't have something to do with it. As we pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, as more UV rays penetrate the ozone, and as the mean temperature for the planet continues upward incrementally, aren't we going to be seeing more and more frankenstorms? And by "more and more," I mean literally more storms every year with the storms being more massive, more threatening and more damaging.
Even though we in NYC were dealt a glancing blow from Sandy and not the direct hit that was expected by some, we still have a massive cleanup to take care of, the likes of which has never been seen. Water from the Hudson and East rivers is all over the place and though some of it receded on its own, a lot more is going to need to be pumped out. The Subways are going to be closed for at least today, along with our airports... but likely they will remain closed longer, which means that life in the city is going to be put on hold for at least that long. Many people lost power, many people lost trees and some people in truly tragic stories lost loved ones.
Certainly there are scientists that have suggested storms affected by global warming is the case, and the famed documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" spelled it out in fairly straightforward terms. That was six years ago. And during that time, there's been a huge argument about the validity of it all. Why change when you can just stick your head in the sand? Or, more to the point, why change when you are the one profiting?
So, what's the answer now? Are we just going to continue to do what we do or can we alter our behavior? Or maybe more importantly, will the people in power start to acknowledge that this is a part of what's actually going on: that our own actions are having an impact on our environment? Because if that doesn't happen, we will continue the argument about why this is happening, instead of starting to do the things to prevent it.
Some scientists say that there is a "tipping point" that we are gradually reaching; it's a place where there's no going back and our fate is sealed... The crest of the first long hill of a roller coaster where the results are inevitable. If we don't do anything before we reach that point, we may be doomed to a new kind of earth, with oppressively hot summers, no polar ice caps, and more super storms like Sandy, every hurricane season.
Forget Halloween. THAT is the scary stuff.
