Hurricanes and Environment

On Monday's The Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry shared his theory about why there are so many hurricanes this year: "God is basically being kind of a dick." Also, "We generally had it coming."

Unlike Rob, I don't think that God is punishing us with these hurricanes. Nature has its own needs, processes, and ways of doing things, and it's not always about us. The mundane explanation is that we're entering a new fifty-year or so cycle of weather where hurricanes are just going to be more common than they were during the previous fifty-year cycle.

But I have been thinking a lot about how we treat the environment, lately, because of the hurricanes and the corresponding rise in gas prices. Most people I know get where they're going by car. It's how Baltimore & suburbs are mostly structured. In fact, if we wanted to go to the baseball game from Columbia (tonight--Red Sox vs. Orioles--Go SOX!) using public transportation, we'd have to drive twenty minutes to get to the light rail. Public transportation around here is slow, inconvenient, and usually not worth it unless you're using it to commute. (And by commuting, I mean going into the city between 7 and 9am, and out of the city between 4 and 7, preferably to city or state government offices near the Inner Harbor. Also, it's best if you can drive to the park-and-ride lot.)

Katrina and Rita, as I understand it, are not as big as they are because of global warming, but I think that if we want to avoid future catastrophes and the loss of more coastline, New Orleans should be an object lesson in how serious global warming can become. If ocean levels rise, New Orleans won't be the only city underwater. Unfortunately, the time to act was probably in November 2000 (sigh). Oh yeah, and then in November 2004 (sigh).

But at any rate, this is a society-wide problem, not just a president problem. It would be nice, of course, to have political leadership that actually took risks for a more environmentally conscious energy policy (or for that matter, was willing to face reality), but to quote an old bumper sticker: If the people lead, the leaders will follow.

So, enough of trying to dominate and control oil and keep things the way they are. It's time for some initiative, some sacrifice for the common good, and some good old-fashioned American ingenuity. It's time to recognize that our car-dependent lifestyle has to change, and to make a new way for everybody to get around.