Environmentalists Blame East Coast Hurricane on 'Global Warming'
(CNSNews.com) - As Hurricane Isabel bears down on the East Coast, environmentalists in Washington, D.C., are linking the caprice of Mother Nature to global warming."Weather-related disasters are occurring with ever-greater intensity and frequency around the world," stated a press release from the environmental group Worldwatch Institute on Wednesday.
Citing "clear connections" that global warming and Hurricane Isabel are inter-related, Worldwatch stated, "Heat in the atmosphere is the fuel that leads to stormy weather, and meteorological studies indicate that rising temperatures will tend to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme storms, particularly the violent thunderstorms that occur in some parts of the world."
But climatologist Patrick J. Michaels, a skeptic of what he terms "alarmist" global warming claims, refuted any attempt to link potential climate change to Hurricane Isabel.
"There is absolutely no evidence for an increase in frequency or severity of hurricanes worldwide and in the Atlantic basin," Michaels told CNSNew.com.
Michaels, who is the author of the book Satanic Gasses: Clearing the Air About Global Warming and an environmental sciences professor at the University of Virginia, believes the Worldwatch Institute should have known better than to send out a press release attempting to link global warming with a present-day hurricane.
"It is a mystery that Worldwatch would seize upon a weak Category 2 hurricane, which is a common storm, knowing full well that there had also been no increases in the frequency or severity of hurricanes," Michaels said. As the storm bore down on the Virginia, Maryland area Thursday, it was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, the least dangerous of five categories.
This is not the first time environmentalists have sought to link present-day weather calamities to their belief in global warming. In February, environmentalists claimed the record-breaking Northeast blizzard was "consistent" with global warming, and last year, they blamed the spread of the West Nile Virus on global warming. Some environmentalists have even warned that global warming could trigger the next ice age.
Regarding hurricanes, Worldwatch stated, "Rising sea levels, a certain result of global warming, will exacerbate the coastal flooding that is one of the most damaging impacts of hurricanes."
But Michaels believes that "alarmist" claims of human-caused global warming are unfounded.
"The [climate] science is settled in a very non-alarmist way," explained Michaels, who is also a senior fellow in environmental studies with the libertarian Cato Institute.
Instead of being concerned about potential climate change, people should "worry about something that is really a serious problem," Michaels added.
Michaels sees no link to present-day hurricanes and any potential increase in the earth's temperature.
"Within the Atlantic basin, maximum winds and hurricanes have declined significantly in the last 50 years," Michaels said.
"Worldwatch could have found this out by reading the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report," Michaels added.
Michaels disputed Worldwatch's contention that any potential increase in world temperatures would increase the intensity of future storms.
"There is no evidence that the frequency or severity of hurricanes is related to the amount of warm ocean water there is on the planet. If it were, hurricanes would erupt virtually continuously in the tropics," Michaels countered.
'Heat waves, floods, droughts and wildfires'
Worldwatch warned that unless greenhouse gas emissions are cut through international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol, the earth could see dire consequences from the warming of the planet.
"There will be more frequent and intense heat waves, floods, droughts and wildfires. The numbers and ranges of agricultural pests will likely increase, while growing ranges for many crops will shift," the green groups said.
According to Worldwatch, "Most scientists agree that global warming is real." The group also warns that scientists believe "climate change is now occurring far faster than ever before in recorded history."
'Don't have a leg to stand on'
S. Fred Singer, president of the Virginia-based Science Environmental Policy Project, rejects that assertion.
"There is dispute on [climate science]. The surface data show some warming, the satellite data do not, and that matter has not yet been resolved. So there is certainly no agreement on whether there is warming or not," Singer told CNSNews.com.
Singer believes that environmentalists "don't have a leg to stand on" when they try to blame hurricanes on what they call global warming.
[The environmentalists] are always trying to make a big deal; they are using Hurricane Isabel as a peg," Singer said.
Worldwatch used the press release and the impending hurricane as an opportunity to chastise the Bush administration for failing to take the "important first step" of supporting the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce greenhouses gases that some believe are warming the earth.
"The Bush administration withdrew its support for the agreement due to the treaty's requirement that the U.S. cut greenhouse gases to 7 percent below the 1990 level by 2012," Worldwatch stated.
"The vast majority of governments, ranging from Great Britain to Japan, disagree with the Bush administration and believe that the Kyoto Protocol represents a moderate step that will not only be affordable, but will actually spur the market for cleaner and more energy-efficient technologies and thereby strengthen economies," Worldwatch added.
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