Chan Lowe: A disastrous spring
Phenomena like those of the past few months serve to remind us that, no matter how much we put our collective ingenuity to work on technology, we remain powerless before the random whims of natural events.
Maybe we always will be. It’s hard to imagine a device of man that could prevent earthquakes. Some are arguing, though, that man might have prevented the floods, the tornadoes, and the record droughts that led to the wildfires⎯or at least lessened their severity⎯had he not burned fossil fuels to the point of altering the world’s climate.
There are financial interests that seek to debunk this notion, and they and their lucre have turned many of our political leaders into their vassals. It’s still a stretch to say that Joplin’s and Tuscaloosa’s woes ought to be laid at the doorsteps of big oil and coal companies, but weather records continue to fall with greater frequency, and there’s a point where the preponderance of evidence will eventually convince even those who have a vested interest in remaining skeptical.
The question is how much farther we’ll have to go, and how many more record springs we’ll have to endure, before concern for the collective welfare outweighs financial motives. Will we ever reach that point where even executives and stockholders are convinced?
We probably have a better chance of fulfilling Harold Camping’s newest prediction for the apocalypse before then. Maybe the events are one and the same.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
Couple of questions for you. How did you get to work this morning? In a car? Were you running your A/C at home while watching the TV? When you and all the global warming alarmists stop using all the modern convenience's and start living in huts I will start listening to your point of view.
Posted by: Richard | May 25, 2011 8:53 AM
Sadly, the general populace does not have the ear of congress at the state of fed levels.
We are just warm bodies to them that are to be encouraged to consume like robots
(oh BTW the captcha below is finally one I can read)
Posted by: A1ACharles | May 25, 2011 9:24 AM
I actually take issue with your point about weather records falling with regularity. First, we mostly have at most 140 years of records for most places. Nothing in the recent weather is without precedent. We have had terrible tornado outbreaks before, we have had far worse earthquakes and my guess is that we have had worse droughts.
Posted by: Nick | May 25, 2011 10:39 PM