Now it’s up to you.
South Mississippi’s Sun Herald is saying Now it’s up to you.
NOAA [the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] released its predictions for the 2006 season, and forecasters are predicting up to 16 named storms, with as many as 10 becoming hurricanes and up to six of those becoming Category 3 or above.
“I would like to caution you that it’s not all about the numbers,” said Max Mayfield, director of the [NOAA's] NHC [National Hurricane Center]. “It just takes that one hurricane that hits your house to make it a bad season.
“The message is very clear. We need to be prepared,” Mayfield said.
Robert Latham, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said because of the destruction in Mississippi and the number of people living in trailers, it’s more important than ever for residents to prepare early.
“Ultimately, it’s not what government does,” he said. “It’s what citizens do with the information government gives them that determines if they survive.”
Now it’s up to you. It’s up to you to move house if you live in Miami, New Orleans or anywhere down there where massive storms are swiftly becoming the norm. And if you live in a trailer, it’s up to you to hitch that trailer up to a car and get out of there.
But then what?
Technorati Tags: climate change, global warming, hurricane, USA
As the man says, “It’s not what government does, it’s what citizens do with the information government gives them.” For 30 years now scientists have been telling us, via our governments, that human activity is heating the Earth, with potentially disastrous consequences. For the last 5 years at least we have been warned that warmer water leads directly to more hurricanes of greater strength. Last year we all watched as New Orleans became the poster-child for both global warming and the US Government’s utter unpreparedness. Two years before we saw over 9000 people die of heat exhaustion in Paris and the French (and for that matter European) Government pretty much just ignored it too. A few months ago Beijing was nearly covered by a dust-storm of unprecedented severity. But China’s Government doesn’t seem to have any clues about how to curb their runaway ecological catastrophe.
So now it’s up to you and me. We can do much more than just bolt our shutters or haul our homes out of harm’s way, for these are not long term solutions to the problem of climate change. We can attack the causes of global warming, namely energy use and carbon emissions. We can cut back on our energy use, shop locally, grow gardens, cycle, walk or use public transport rather than drive, eat less meat and offset our CO2 emissions. None of these things are hard, or expensive. In fact most sensible planet-friendly actions you can take will save you money and improve your health.
So yes, it is up to us. It’s up to you to not adopt the attitude of a victim and see yourself as a cause. And as a cause you are an agent of change. And as an agent of change you have power. As Maxwell Smart used to say, “if only they’d used their powers for good instead of evil.” — DS
