According to the headlines I read this week, it is the tenth
anniversary of the devastating hurricane named Katrina. I am catching bits and pieces of the dialogue
on TV news evoking memories of the hellacious destruction rent by that
storm. I remember the death and devastation
reported from the Crescent. For God’s
sake, the New Orleans Saints had to play their home games in Houston! Or was it San Antonio? I forget.
But as much as Texans love football, they were praying for rain. I think
the memory that stayed with me most though, was that of the climate pundits who
warned that this was just a harbinger of things to come.
Another scandal, I recall, was the loss of life at nursing
homes for the elderly. Apparently the
surging waters made it impossible to evacuate those most vulnerable of
citizens. No, wait a minute. I think the staff members of those affected
facilities were mostly indicted for not taking appropriate care and action to
safeguard their charges. What was that
word: Abandonment?
Katrina was marking the beginning of the end. Sea levels would rise and within a few years
our coastal cities would be underwater.
Killer storms would attack with a ferocity and frequency never before
seen in history or as recorded in the geologic record. A watery doom was knocking at our door. I’m
waiting. I’ve got my life jacket in the
garage. (I take this stuff seriously, even though I live at an elevation of
1,700 ft.)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was vilified for its lack
of foresight and failure to prepare the levy system for what seems, ten years
later, an anomalous event. But not to
worry, the government has spent uncounted billions on preparing the Mississippi
for the next storm of Katrina like proportions.
It may be a decade, or century, or millennium before we find out just
how well the improvements perform. Our emergency
services motto has become, “For the Worst Case Scenario!” (‘cause the Feds will borrow money to pay for
it).
Well, as with most predictions related to the threat of
global warming (I guess the scientists have agreed to stop using that language
and have shifted instead to “extreme climate change”) I’m still waiting. Hell, I’m still waiting for the next ice age
they predicted on Earth Day 1970! As I
recall we had an outdoor assembly for the purpose of inculcating us into the
green fold. And what I remember of that
day’s weather was the fear-driven chill I felt as the sweat rolled off my
forehead into my eyes.
I spend much of my TV time allotment watching educational
programming. My favorite subject is astronomy
(cosmology, astrophysics, etc.). And
most recently, there have been many shows devoted to the future viability of
Earth as a life friendly biosphere. And
it’s not. Between the constant increase
in energy output from the Sun, which is the single most critical element
affecting our terrestrial weather, and the weakening of our magnetosphere,
which keeps the solar wind from glowing away our atmosphere (the air we
breathe, no matter what the temperature is), we’re pretty much screwed survival
wise. So, yeah; I’m running my air
conditioner at full speed this evening, carbon footprint be damned!
If you are wondering, “Dale, where is your usual humorous
bent? Where is the funny we’re so used
to?” Sorry, the subject matter just
doesn’t support it this week.
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