Comments on: Hurricane Season http://climatechange.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/08/20/hurricane-season/ The official Web log for Great Decisions 2007 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:54:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 by: Bill Hewitt http://climatechange.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/08/20/hurricane-season/#comment-769 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:46:05 +0000 http://climatechange.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/08/20/hurricane-season/#comment-769 Thank, Bonnie. The censorship problem is a real one. I've touched on it a few times here, but not at great length. Chris Mooney at Intersection and David Roberts at Gristmill, among others, have written about this eloquently. (See the blogroll here for their sites.) See also the Union of Concerned Scientists on this. We do have one of the most universally respected climate scientists, James Hansen, who works for NASA, standing up in the face of repeated attempts to tone down or censor his work. We also have an international community of scientists working hard under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On preparing for the effects of climate change, see the IPCC's voluminous report from its Working Group II on "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability." See the Climate Change Links at the main page here for a link to the IPCC. Not incidentally, if you haven't seen Bonnie's work at the Central Asia blog for the Foreign Policy Assn., do yourself a favor and check out her in-depth and insightful commentary. Thank, Bonnie. The censorship problem is a real one. I’ve touched on it a few times here, but not at great length. Chris Mooney at Intersection and David Roberts at Gristmill, among others, have written about this eloquently. (See the blogroll here for their sites.) See also the Union of Concerned Scientists on this. We do have one of the most universally respected climate scientists, James Hansen, who works for NASA, standing up in the face of repeated attempts to tone down or censor his work. We also have an international community of scientists working hard under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

On preparing for the effects of climate change, see the IPCC’s voluminous report from its Working Group II on “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.” See the Climate Change Links at the main page here for a link to the IPCC.

Not incidentally, if you haven’t seen Bonnie’s work at the Central Asia blog for the Foreign Policy Assn., do yourself a favor and check out her in-depth and insightful commentary.

]]> by: Bonnie Boyd http://climatechange.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/08/20/hurricane-season/#comment-768 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:23:06 +0000 http://climatechange.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/08/20/hurricane-season/#comment-768 I'm so glad you're covering the hurricanes and the problems with post-Katrina reconstruction. Not only is it a wake-up call to imminent disaster, but a cogent summary of how hard it is to recover from such disasters. The most advanced economy in the world did not have a plan to meet such disaster. The city's infrastructure is not geared toward evacuation (only bridges out, due to Southern Louisiana geography). The levees were inadequate, and the bridges do not have adequate provision for the broken down automobiles that inevitably occur in regions with poor people, little mass transportation, and limited access to gasoline and repairs. The reconstruction efforts, pitiful as they have been for individuals, have not made alteration in these basic systems or structures either--nor have they evaluated other at-risk areas of the U.S. for the events of climate change disasters. This would include the Gulf Coast but not be limited to it. Futhermore, denial of the issue gets in the way of credible proactive planning. As a February 2006 article in the Washington Post reports, the NOAA, like some other agencies, has been censored over the issue of global warming, where the pursuit of technical knowledge has interfered with political agendas. You've probably already read it, but The WashPost article is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/10/AR2006021001766.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. I collected a few of these government censorship allegations and undue influence problems in the present administration:  see <a href="http://bcboyd.wordpress.com/2007/08/24/the-c-word-hypocrisy-about-info-agendas/" rel="nofollow">this</a>. At every step and every stage, the lessons of Katrina have been denied and subverted, and this is not only distasteful but dangerous to life, limb, property, and good government. Bonnie (former ten-year N.O. resident) I’m so glad you’re covering the hurricanes and the problems with post-Katrina reconstruction. Not only is it a wake-up call to imminent disaster, but a cogent summary of how hard it is to recover from such disasters. The most advanced economy in the world did not have a plan to meet such disaster. The city’s infrastructure is not geared toward evacuation (only bridges out, due to Southern Louisiana geography). The levees were inadequate, and the bridges do not have adequate provision for the broken down automobiles that inevitably occur in regions with poor people, little mass transportation, and limited access to gasoline and repairs. The reconstruction efforts, pitiful as they have been for individuals, have not made alteration in these basic systems or structures either–nor have they evaluated other at-risk areas of the U.S. for the events of climate change disasters. This would include the Gulf Coast but not be limited to it.

Futhermore, denial of the issue gets in the way of credible proactive planning. As a February 2006 article in the Washington Post reports, the NOAA, like some other agencies, has been censored over the issue of global warming, where the pursuit of technical knowledge has interfered with political agendas. You’ve probably already read it, but The WashPost article is here.

I collected a few of these government censorship allegations and undue influence problems in the present administration:  see this.

At every step and every stage, the lessons of Katrina have been denied and subverted, and this is not only distasteful but dangerous to life, limb, property, and good government.

Bonnie (former ten-year N.O. resident)

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