in hot water

I read a couple of stories the same day last week and I think I finally understand. Since I understand, I think I should let you know what it is I understand.

The first story was about Floridians who say they have had enough of destructive tropical storms and hurricanes and they are selling their property on the beach and moving away. My first thought was, are these people crazy? My second thought was that they aren’t making Floridians like they used to. Maybe it’s because the government is run by one of the bungling Bush brothers. I went to Florida several times in the pre-Bush era and I left with the impression that the place was a pretty good place to be. I remember I looked at the employment ads in the local newspaper the day before we left, once, thinking if a brother could find work this would be a good place to stay. I don’t remember there being many good jobs, however, and I would imagine after Bush’s “improvements” in the economy, it is probably worse today.

Tossing the employment issue aside, however, I would think that the climatic advantages of being in Florida would offset the occasional storm. Although I can understand having your house blown away twice in nine months would make one hesitant to stay. Surely, however, this is a fluke and the frequency of the recent storms would be a harbinger of a long period of good weather to come. Okay, you statisticians out there, I know that doesn’t mean squat, but common sense would seem to indicate that the worst might be over.

Unfortunately, the second story I read made me believe these Floridians might know what they are doing. The second story was about global warming, something I have always opposed, but an issue that is hard to get really excited about when the scientists talk about the temperature going up a couple of degrees every fifty years or so because of it. The story talked specifically about the waters of the Caribbean and noted they are getting warmer.

When it is 80 degrees here one day and 82 the next, I can’t tell the difference, but apparently, when the water in the Caribbean warms up two degrees, it can mean the difference between a storm that blows a couple of shingles off your roof and one that blows away your house. It is recognized that warm ocean water provides the power to tropical storms and hurricanes. If you watch The Weather Channel much, you have probably heard them talk about storms gathering power when they are out over the warm ocean waters and then losing power when they are over land.

The point made in the story I read is that the recent spate of powerful hurricanes is not just a fluke and that as the waters of the Atlantic and Caribbean warm there will be more and stronger hurricanes. The data would indicate that over and above the destruction that would occur in the United States, the less prepared islands and nations in the Caribbean should expect more massive storms and catastrophic loss of life.

This morning a killer named Katrina is on the loose. As she moves across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico she is supposed to pick up strength and, who knows, she may kill again. I wonder how much we aided and abetted her years ago with a spray can in our hand. I wonder how much we are to blame because of not conserving our resources and not finding environmentally cleaner ways to create electricity or power cars. I guess when Florida is an inhabitable wasteland we’ll look back and wonder how it happened. Someone should have warned us this about this.

Surely it can’t be our fault.