Can We Afford To Deny Global Warming Any Longer?

The fury and devastation of Hurricane Katrina is unmistakeable. The extraordinarily warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico turned this storm into one of the nation's worst national disasters ever, completely destroying the city of New Orleans for at least a few weeks, possibly months, causing billions in damages across the Gulf coast, with economic shockwaves sure to hit the rest of the country, and killing what will sure to be hundreds, possibly thousands, of victims.

To say this is bad is an understatement. But the truth is, the scariest part of this disaster is the realization that this will continue to happen. The National Hurricane Center just raised their 2005 hurricane season forecast, saying the bulk of the hurricanes this year, (11-14 more tropical storms, eight to nine more hurricanes), are still to come. A look at the surface temperatures of the Gulf show it is at least five degrees Celcius warmer than the rest of the Carribean and Atlantic. If any of those storms make it to the Gulf (undoubtedly some will), the same, if not worse, results are sure to occur.

As a capitalist, I think it is absolutely clear any economic cost incurred in reducing our greenhouse gas output, e.g. implementing Kyoto, pales in comparison to the human and economic toll of doing nothing.

Some argue that the hurricane cycle is natural, so is the carbon cycle, and there is nothing we can do. Well, it is a proven fact of science that a direct correlation exists between carbon dioxide concentrations in our environment (atmosphere and oceans) and global temperatures.

I do not care why air and sea temperatures are trending warmer, whether it be natural, man-made, or Scientology's aliens; if we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in our environment and consequently reduce global temperatures, we have no logical, political, or economic reason not to do so at this point. If we can avoid just a single repeat of Katrina, it will be well worth it in terms of human life alone, if not economics.