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Related: About this forumName Storms After Oil Companies (The Ones Most Responsible for Climate Change)
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/30-12Name Storms After Oil Companies (The Ones Most Responsible for Climate Change)
by Bill McKibben
Published on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 by New York Daily News Blog
As gutsy New Yorkers begin the task of drying out the city, heres one thought that occurred to me last night watching the horrifying pictures from a distance. Its obviously not crucial right now but in the long run it might make a difference. Why dont we stop naming these storms for people, and start naming them after oil companies?
Global warming didnt cause this hurricane, of course hurricanes are caused when a tropical wave washes off the coast of Africa and begins to spin in the far Atlantic. But this storm rode ocean waters five degrees warmer than normal, so its no great shock that it turned into a monster. By the time it hit land, it had smashed every record for the lowest barometric pressure, and the largest wind field.
Most of its damage, of course, came from the savage storm surge, washing over the Rockaways, into the Holland Tunnel. It was astonishing to watch on TV as the Lower East Side became a part of the East River. And one reason that surge was so high? The sea level in New York harbor has gone up a foot as the climate has warmed. Sandy had a big head start on flooding out the city.
The fossil fuel companies have played the biggest role in making sure we dont slow global warming down. Theyve funded climate denial propagandists and helped pack Congress with anti-environmental extremists, making sure that common sense steps to move toward renewable energy never happen. So maybe its only right that we should honor their efforts by naming storms for them from now on. At the very least its fun to imagine the newscasters: Exxon is coming ashore across New Jersey, leaving havoc in her wake. Chevron forces evacuation of 375,000.
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Name Storms After Oil Companies (The Ones Most Responsible for Climate Change) (Original Post)
unhappycamper
Oct 2012
OP
fasttense
(17,301 posts)1. Good idea, but they would only change their names.
The oil mega-corporations Not the storms.
drm604
(16,230 posts)2. Let them.
That way we wouldn't run out of names for the storms. They change their name, we use the new name for the next storm.
Wednesdays
(17,409 posts)3. Sure, why not?
They name stadiums and football bowl games after mega-corporations, so why stop there?
stuntcat
(12,022 posts)4. name them after certain politicians too
The deaths caused directly by the storms will always be remembered with the name of a politician who spent years voting and campaigning against environmentalists.
EconomyInCrisis
(18 posts)5. Spam deleted by bluesbassman (MIR Team)