The not so perfect storm

We all are in shock from Hurricane Sandy’s appearance, with its 1,040-mile diameter of gale force winds, the “largest hurricane in history,” which we thought not possible after Katrina, but here and gone nonetheless, ending as the second most costliest storm in history, leaving a wake of destruction, particularly in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and New England, behaving like some biblical prophecy, when we all know (or should know) the reason for its appearance was our unquenchable thirst for hydrocarbon gook; plus turning forests and rainforests and open land into syncs (cities, towns, malls, parking lots, roads) and the overpopulation they bring with them. These all scar the biosphere as they scar our lungs.

Sandy had many elements going for it, including a wind shift from the east to the north at high tide, during a full moon. This presented the perfect situation for the not so perfect storm. Also, “Surface temperatures along the Atlantic Coast running over normal by 3 degrees Celsius, and extending some 800 kilometers offshore from Florida to Canada,” helped as noted by Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth,” distinguished senior scientist in the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.”

He also reports that “Global warming contributes 0.6 degrees Celsius to this. With every 1 degree Celsius, the water-holding of the atmosphere goes up 7 percent, and the moisture provides fuel for the tropical storm, increasing its intensity and magnifying the rainfall by double that amount compared with normal conditions.

As the climate continues to warm, the effect will only increase, leading to more extreme weather events, flooding and drought . . .

“And warm it will. Not because we don’t have answers to prevent that from happening and derive our energy from sources other than fossil fuels, but because it’s simply too profitable to change. There is a compulsion inherent in capitalism, the propellant force of profit that powers further growth in a perpetual feedback loop, where the colossal forces or product are testing the limits of the planet to absorb the battering its biosphere is taking.”

That is a gloomy forecast indeed and, as we now see, leaves an economically-strapped nation with a huge bill to rebuild, mourn for the hurt and lost, and fear for the future, in spite of the courage all the victimized families have shown. I can speak most knowingly about this from what occurred in New York City, which have I lived in, in various areas, all of my life.

I am particularly concerned with what happened downtown eleven years after 9/11, where the WTC memorial and museum construction site and the financial center of our economy are under water. This is not sympathy for the devil, but concern about our future. During Hurricane Sandy, the waters of the Hudson River breached the walkways that run the length of Battery Park City, sending a river of salt water into the WTC site, conceivably compromising the “bathtub” wall that keeps the river out normally. That river also totally flooded Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the Holland tunnel. Engineers are still inspecting all of these structures, since salt water affects electrical equipment.

Surge water breached the East River Drive and flooded the financial area, leaving scenes of drowning cars, flashing police car lights barring cars and pedestrians from certain drowned streets. Has this national addiction to environmental abuse made America’s greatest city vulnerable to destruction again? Are the terrorists here the purveyors of these fuels and land developers and their way of living—or dying?

In Queens, the entire community of Breezy Point was leveled from the fire prompted by the surge knocking over propane tanks and splintering fuel lines. Some 111 homes were burned to the ground, Mayor Bloomberg noted, though no deaths were reported. The scene looked like something from post-WWII Germany. But this is America.

And when the cameras pulled back from New York and its boroughs, we saw a devastated New Jersey, Atlantic City and its boardwalk wiped out. Ironically, this prompted Republican Governor Chris Christie to praise Democratic President Obama for allowing FEMA to step in and assess rebuilding Christie’s state. Perhaps this is just politics played close to the national election. But when the camera pulled as far back as it could, as of October 31, 2012, Halloween, there were 90 people dead, 40 from New York. No treat, but an awful trick of nature that sobered us all up.

Also, more than 8.2 million people were left without power. And there was damage to already aged nuclear reactors, and a state of shock for the nation, second only to 9/11. Yet the real irony in all this was that in three national debates neither candidate had dared to step on the third rail of mentioning climate change. Not a word. Mum. The Republicans considered it junk science, a joke, a creation of Al Gore and the tree-huggers. And the Democrats weren’t any better. But don’t we all live in the same America? Doesn’t this country belong to all of us? Then why can’t we take action where action is really needed; not in destroying another Middle Eastern country, but in protecting the environmental future of our country—and the world’s—that is if we choose to be its protector?

While we can’t be sure if Sandy was just a product of global warming from fossil fuels or just another of the many weather cycles the planet goes through, there are other possibilities mentioned earlier: destruction of the forests and rainforests, creation of heat syncs (cities, towns, malls, parking lots, roads) and overpopulation that are problematic as well—all tragically real. So, who will lead the intervention in prevention of the factors mentioned above? Who will have courage to read the handwriting on this mental wall so we can go forward—the next president?

The only Green Candidate that we have, Jill Stein, is an independent, who was arrested in Texas for attempting to bring food to Keystone XL Pipeline protesters and held by the police for seven hours before being released. That’s just for making the powers of profit uneasy, the oil and gas guys, the coal and nuclear combines, the developers, and their minions in Congress and industry. So, get a grip America. There may be a natural disaster, drought or hurricane, coming to your town. No one is above the laws of nature. Not even the sacrilegious right, and its laughable notion of Intelligent Design, which is neither intelligent nor a design, except for profit and further biosphere and human destruction.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.