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How to talk about hurricanes now
CNN ^ | October 11, 2018 | By John D. Sutter

Posted on 10/11/2018 7:26:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Hurricane Michael isn't a truly "natural disaster."

Neither was Harvey in Houston.

Nor Maria in Puerto Rico.

Yet we continue to use that term.

Doing so -- especially in the era of climate change -- is misleading if not dangerous, according to several disaster experts and climate scientists I reached by phone and on Twitter.

"The phrase 'natural disaster' is an attempt to lay blame where blame really doesn't rest," said Kerry A. Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at MIT and a global expert on hurricanes.

It's not about semantics, said Ksenia Chmutina, a lecturer at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. She and colleagues issued a news release this year asking journalists to banish the phrase from our lexicon. "By blaming nature on disasters, we're saying there is nothing we can do about this -- we can't do anything to reduce the risks. Which is not the case."

So, what should we say instead?

And where, if not with nature, should we place the blame?

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: globalwarming; hoax; propaganda; socialism

1 posted on 10/11/2018 7:26:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Da Coyote

Ping


2 posted on 10/11/2018 7:28:13 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

This guy is so full of $hit his eyes are brown.


3 posted on 10/11/2018 7:30:27 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If you want to reduce the strength of hurricanes just vote for Democrats.


4 posted on 10/11/2018 7:30:29 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

This guy is correct to this extent:

When you build your home on a slap at sea level south of New Orleans and it gets wet, it is not a surprise nor should it be problem.

When your beach front condo gets hammered by storm surge and winds from a hurricane, it is not a surprise nor should it be my problem.

In both instances, you should buy unsubsidized insurance or not live there in the first place.


5 posted on 10/11/2018 7:33:07 AM PDT by oldplayer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If you believe I created Hurricane Michael by driving an old car...you might be a Democrat. :)


6 posted on 10/11/2018 7:33:19 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 - put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If you believe there’s no way a supreme Being created everything, but a simple man named George W. Bush created Hurricane Katrina and steered it at minorities in New Orleans...you might be a Democrat. :)


7 posted on 10/11/2018 7:34:09 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 - put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I caught a few seconds of NBC news last evening during which the words “this is the worst hurricane ever” were used. Really? They have data on record from two hundred, five hundred, a thousand or a million years ago? Reading a front page article in my local Gannett newsrag, it was “the most powerful hurricane to hit the US mainland in almost fifty years”. So, which was it? Ever, or historic?

Granted, fewer people lived in the affected area fifty years ago, so the potential for deaths and the value of property damaged was less. But the storm was every bit as powerful then as now, maybe even more so.


8 posted on 10/11/2018 7:46:21 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Tell It Right

Good one!


9 posted on 10/11/2018 8:19:30 AM PDT by libertylover (Despite government propaganda, I know the difference between a boy and a girl.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

WOW! These nutters just get nuttier and nuttier.

I experienced Michael last night and I can tell you the wind and rain were natural to me. Fortunately, no disasters around here.


10 posted on 10/11/2018 8:38:38 AM PDT by upchuck (Definition of a Republican registered to vote but doesn't on Nov 6: A DEMOCRAT!)
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To: oldplayer
"In both instances, you should buy unsubsidized insurance or not live there in the first place."

... or along a fault line, or tornado alley, or near a creek or river or anywhere close to a 100 year flood plain, or a mountain prone to avalanches, or living in the shadow of Yellowstone or a Hawaiian volcano, or in the vicinity of a chemical plant, or.....

11 posted on 10/11/2018 8:59:53 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

More attempted mind control by radical lefties. Sorry, but you won’t make me think your way.


12 posted on 10/11/2018 9:44:07 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Cynicism is the only refuge in a world that is determined to eliminate itself.)
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