...Frequently Asked Questions

1.  Is global warming giving us more severe hurricanes? Short answer – probably not.

The Colorado State University hurricane team points out that tropical storm formation and development are complicated processes.  They don’t believe that higher carbon dioxide levels and sea surface temperatures by themselves produce more or stronger storms.  For instance:

… storm soon come

The Atlantic tropical storm season extends (officially) from June 1 to November 30.  Before the storm season comes the forecast season – about six weeks when all the weather experts tell us how active the next six months could be.  These forecasts are closely watched by insurance companies, construction contractors and commodity traders – especially those dealing in food, fuel and building materials.

...do something green

Next Thursday, April 22, Earth Day will ask us to take the environment personally.  The first Earth Day happened in 1970, after a campaign by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson for a national day of action to draw attention to pollution problems.  From its modest beginnings, the idea has grown and spread.  This year, sponsors estimate that a billion people in more than 170 countries will observe Earth Day.  Nothing else attracts that kind of audience except religious holidays and the World Cup final.

…a little light reading

World Water Day (March 22) has come and gone, but the urgency of this year’s theme, “Clean Water for a Healthy World”, is still with us.  A very good new source of information on the subject is the April issue of National Geographic Magazine.  If you have one, read it and then lend it to a friend.  If you don’t, buy one or borrow one, and read it.

Some startling facts come out of the magazine and the Water Day reports.  For example, about 780 million people (13% of the world’s population) don’t have a source of clean drinking water.  They don’t all live in Africa’s deserts or India’s slums.  An estimated 30% of Jamaican households don’t have their own piped-in water supply, and at least 9% don’t have any access to treated drinking water.