Story on my local news
Laura (guest) 19 Dec 2010 22:10
Story on my local news
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Summary:
Just wanted to guys to see it and give some feedback
Laura (guest) 19 Dec 2010 22:10
Why are they making such a big deal about it and saying it's definitely not ordinary and it's unusual??? Kinda worries me…..Oh, I also saw this same story on Yahoo! News after I saw it on our local news website.
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say
Linked to 2012 in what way? Natural disasters happen all the time, and this year was in no way an exception, as you have noticed. Earthquakes, floods, landslides and so on fluctuates from one year to another and some natural disasters will become more frequent in the future (storms, floods and so on). Not because Mayans said so (which they didn't) and not because we are about to get struck by some made-up planet inhabbited by some supreme beings. Humans, and humans alone, are to blame for any increase in natural disasters. One day the human stupidity will become the end of our species and perhaps even our planet, but not during our lifetime (or our childrens, or our grand childrens…). So Laura, there really isn't any need to worry about that article. It's twisted in a way that makes you think that; "huh, THAT was indeed strange". Media has a way of delivering news in the most sensationalistic ways possible, and this year will be no exception from that either.
Facts are stubborn things.
- Ronald Reagan
Laura, please examine the article carefully before getting all worked up over it. I'll note a few of the stand-out lines below:
* "Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be."
* "Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes 'are pretty much constant,' said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. 'All the change that's made is man-made.'"
In other words, lousy construction in the poor areas hit by disasters is the problem, not a rise in the frequency or intensity of disasters themselves.
And then there's this:
* "Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding."
And I think that might be a somewhat irresponsible statement, because I'm not aware of any scientific studies conclusively linking this year's weather to "man-made global warming." Even if so, it doesn't have anything to do with 2012 or doomsday.
And there's this lady they quoted, for whatever reason:
* "'I think it is the end of the world,' she said. 'Our planet warns us against what would happen if we don't care about nature.'"
That's just pure b.s., a perfect example of the sensationalist tactics regrettably employed by far too many media outlets. The lady who said that isn't even a scientist. She is identified in the article as Vera Savinova, "a 52-year-old administrator in a dental clinic." Why the Associated Press believes this person's mystical opinions about climate and geology are worthy of reporting is anyone's guess.
They do, however, quote one ostensibly reputable source:
* "'These (weather) events would not have happened without global warming,' said Kevin Trenberth, chief of climate analysis for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo."
Of course, that statement, is totally unqualified and unsupported by anything else in the article. And again, even though climate change is a real phenomenon, and if it can be blamed for this year's weather, we're still not looking at doomsday here, and this lends no credence to anything being puked around by doomsayers.
Read articles like this carefully, and understand that they are not scientific sources. Even when they quote scientists, they're usually noting off-the-cuff remarks instead of in-depth discussions of the issues at hand. Also remember that, for any given span of years, one will always be the "worst" in terms of weather. With populations growing to unprecedented levels, it isn't surprising that the effects of natural disasters are more and more obvious when they strike populated areas, and our information-based society spreads word of these events faster than ever.
I do agree the conclusion that bad weather, warm or cold weather does not automatically means it is caused by global warming.
Only in 10 years from now we will have enough data to link this special weather event to global warming or not.
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