It’s a monster, its damage-causing forces unprecedented for the East Coast, and it’ll cost an estimated $6 billion. And according to experts, it’s only the beginning.
As Hurricane Sandy approached the coast, The New Yorker published the findings of a study conducted by reinsurance firm Munich Re that argues climate change could be the reason for an increase in weather-related disasters.
According to the press release that accompanied the report, “Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America.” The number of what Munich Re refers to as “weather-related loss events,” and what the rest of us would probably call weather-related disasters, has quintupled over the last three decades. While many factors have contributed to this trend, including an increase in the number of people living in flood-prone areas, the report identified global warming as one of the major culprits: “Climate change particularly affects formation of heat-waves, droughts, intense precipitation events, and in the long run most probably also tropical cyclone intensity.”
If only our politicians could catch up.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2012.
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Global Warming is a hoax that governments and people in the energy sector use to raise taxes. The earth has naturally warmed and cooled it’s entire life. If you look at the extremes on both sides (cooling and warming) over the course of the last 1,000 years you’ll see that we’re not on the extreme side of things. Al Gore and his cronies are a smart bunch of idiots praying on the tree huging community. Look at the science and actual data over the last 1,000 years and see for yourself.
Data:
You can believe Fox News and the right wing echo chamber if you like, I will continute to put my faith in the scientific community.