Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Katrina, Katrina

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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