Earlier this week an absolutely nasty storm hit the eastern seaboard of our United States and wreaked utter havoc and devastation upon our land. As of this writing, 92 people in the U.S. have died from this storm, bringing the storm’s total loss of life since it blew up from the Caribbean (good Lord, this thing was fricking huge) to 161, and there are estimates of between $30 and $50 billion dollars of damage. Billion. To see the images of the near total destruction in some areas is heartbreaking. I have family and friends in the affected areas and have tried to contact them, but the lines of communication are clearly not what they were last week.
Why are these massive superstorms happening? Apparently even all the learned minds can’t even agree, everyone has their opinions about Global Warming, and don’t even try to get Zen on the matter, cause you’re immediately laughed off (cue: Oliver Stone’s statement of punishment), but the most recent National Geographic article I’d read about the mechanics of superstorms does accuse Global Warming in that in the warming of the Earth, more water vapor is being evaporated into the air, and with more water in the atmosphere, and other atmospheric physics I can’t recall nor spit back, storms are simply getting worse because there’s “more ammo” at their disposal (my words).
Now, as to the root cause of these storms, Mother Nature being pissed at our politicians, governmental conspiracies, the normal planetary cycle of life and weather, et cetera, I’m not going to speculate, except that I believe all things are related, and everything is tied to everything else, in the most Zen of ways. I don’t believe in arcane punishment, Mother Nature or otherwise, but I do believe in collective angst. All you have to do is look outside to see angst subject matter everywhere you look. But that’s not my drive here, today.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by this massive superstorm. It’s horrendous and dispiriting, but I hope that we can all rise up from this disaster and rebuild physically, mentally, and spiritually. There’s not much that any of us can say who are not directly affected by this storm, but, please, be strong, persevere…and have faith that you can rebuild and rise above this.
Related articles
- Scientists look at climate change, the superstorm (rdmag.com)
- LOOK: Complete Superstorm Sandy Lifespan From Space (huffingtonpost.com)
- Superstorm Sandy: US ‘needs to face up to climate change impact’ (telegraph.co.uk)
- How Does Climate Change Make Superstorms Like Sandy More Destructive? (thinkprogress.org)
Re. supper storms & global warming… Humankind has removed so much water from the earth’s natural flow, water cycle and contained it (bottled, storage, dams, reservoirs, etc.) that the earth’s physics & chemistry is doing what “it” must to regain balance of the system. E.i., heat up, melt frozen water stores (glaciers, ice caps) in order to replace the volume that’s been removed. If humankind wants the global warming to stop and weather patterns to return to “normal,” it will have to release the water that’s been removed / withheld from that system. Too simple an idea? Yes, especially for learned scientists who want to maintain their research grants and positions in trying to solve the problem.
Well, it certainly is a “heated” topic, pardon the pun, and just from what I’ve seen over my lifetime, temps do appear to be on the increase.