The Governor actually says That Which Cannot be Mentioned:
“Anyone who thinks that there is not a dramatic change in weather patterns is denying reality,” Mr. Cuomo said. “We have a new reality, and old infrastructures and old systems.”
The corporate media blackout on the phrases “global warming” and “climate change” in the context of Hurricane Sandy is extraordinary. Even WBUR’s Tom Ashbrook, who should be able to speak sensibly if anyone can, appeared unable to connect A (a “once in a generation storm” — heh, we’ll see about that) to B (global climate change). He did get jolly close when, on the one hand, a top NASA scientist was explaining that climate change is happening while, on the other, a random caller armed with his own “Internet research and stuff” was bravely asserting there has been no climate warming for the past 17 years.
A vivid example of the narrowness of contemporary public discourse in the corporate media (and even national non-profits like NPR), constant self-congratulatory assertions that Americans have a wide range of views in their media notwithstanding.
williamstowndem says
I heard WBZ’s weatherman Barry Burbank, who must know better, using all sorts of contorted, twisted language to avoid any connection between climate change and post-tropical storm Sandy. I guess Dylan was right: “we don’t need a weatherman to know the way the wind blows!”
dcsohl says
I thought Irene was a once in a generation storm. Now it’s Sandy that is, and it’s hard to find any mention of Irene, which was an extraordinary storm (just ask anybody in Vermont)… maybe because to mention the two storms in the same sentence would be too much of a tacit admission of reality?
Christopher says
via <a href="
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
” target=”_blank”>Hardball, featuring our own Ed Markey.
Christopher says
Let’s try a straight link since the embed above wasn’t what I had in mind.
Jasiu says
I like this phrase from Markey: “Extreme weather tax”. That’s what the folks up and down the eastern half of the country are paying right now.
Here’s an analogy that comes to mind regarding climate change. I don’t know if it is helpful, but here goes: Back many years ago, I noticed some carpenter ants in my house. I called up an exterminator and the first questions he asked me were a) how many, and b) how often. From that, he could tell me whether I was seeing a few rogue explorers or if there was an infestation in my house.
That, in a nutshell, is the difference between weather and climate. A few extreme weather events spaced out by years isn’t indicative of a changing climate. Multiple events every year is.
Ryan says
They happen to have one of the three most important cities in the world, and the most important city in America… that could basically be underwater in a decade or two.
The damage to the city from this hurricane is in the billions and billions, and will be billions and billions more in lost economic activity since the subway is going to basically be shut down for days, and parts of it for weeks. The critical point? Despite the fact that the weather folks on TV have been trying to suggest this storm was The Worst Storm EVER, it’s in all actuality a rinky-dink affair next to Katrina, and the way the climate is going, NYC is going to get Katrinas.
Not even NYC can afford to tackle these kinds of storms over and over again, and heaven forbid the almost inevitable (even in the next decade) bigger ones coming its way. Climate Change, for NYC more than even most places, is an absolute existential crisis. The people of NYC have to start asking themselves “Do we even want to be a city anymore?” If the answer is yes, as it should be, then climate change has to be the biggest priority going forward.
We here in the Boston area aren’t much better off than NYC, and have less resources to deal with it. We best be making it our top priority, too, because as much as some people in our state hate it, as Boston goes, so goes the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.