Hurricane Discussion
This video is about hurricane Sandy, the devastating storm that hit the East Coast in October of 2012. Pay careful attention to why this storm ended up being so large, and destructive. Also make sure you understand the affect climate change has on events like this one.
After you watch the video, please discuss the following questions in the forum below.
- What role do you think the US government (or any national government) should have in natural disasters like this? What role should they have before a natural disaster, during, and after? Please use evidence and examples to back up your opinion.
- Compare and contrast Hurricane Sandy and its effects to Hurricane Katrina. In what ways were they similar? In what ways were they different? What do you think about these differences and similarities?
- Global climate change likely played a role in making Sandy so strong. What do you think us as a country, and the world should be doing about global climate change? Please be specific, and provide detailed examples and evidence to back up your opinions.
- Make one post discussing any or all of the issues stated above. This post should be a minimum of two full paragraphs (a sentence or two is not a paragraph). They should also contain specific evidence and examples to back up what you said.
- Reply to a post. This also must be 1-2 full paragraphs, and use evidence to back up your opinions
- Cite any outside sources you use
Reply to this post
Cliamte change most likely played a part in the strength of Hurricane Sandy. The Nor’easter colliding with Sandy and increasing its strength just seemed to be a run of bad luck but the Jet stream changing it normal course from west to east turns back and pushing the hurricane to shore was possibly because arctic temperatures rising due to global warming. The relationship between global warming and hurricanes is complicated and they can not be fully connected but there is a strong correlation. One thing that is known for sure is that ocean water is warmer and warmer water raises the sea levels. Couple that with melting polar caps and it is sure that with seal levels rising there will be more coastal flooding events.
This seems to have been a wake up call, not only for New York but for all costal towns. The U.S government has a strong duty to protect its people. From the Nova special it did look like they had some good advance notice and did things to prepare the area and warn the people. Of all the disaster reports that have been on the news lately I am always shocked at how many people refuse to evacuate when they are given ample time. People say they want to stay and “protect their home”. I do not understand that logic. How do you protect your home from floods and winds? The things I think the government has to do now is two fold: planning for future disasters and implement ways to turn global warming. The very end of the video talked about a flood gate at the mouth of the funnel for New York, that would be one way to plan for future disasters. Louisiana is looking at ways to repair and replace the flood dams that protect New Orleans. Infrastructure like that can help protect the coastal lands but that all takes swift planning and money. Secondly we have to listen to science. We as a country need to vote in politicians that believe scientists when it comes to global warming. There is still time to make changes on scales large and small to slow or even diminish global warming. Of course it will take sacrifice and people are not very willing to make changes if it affects their comfort or their wallets, but it all starts with trusting the science behind this and humans taking responsibility.