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 Weather Reports Are Missing the StoryPosted on Jun 18, 2008By Amy Goodman The floodwaters are rising, swamping cities, breaching levees. Tens of thousands are displaced. Many are dead. No, I am not talking about Hurricane Katrina, but about the Midwest United States. As the floodwaters head south along the Mississippi, devastating communities one after another, the media are overflowing with televised images of the destruction. While the TV meteorologists document “extreme weather” with their increasingly sophisticated toolbox, from Doppler radar to 3-D animated maps, the two words rarely uttered are its cause: global warming. I asked former Energy Department official Joseph Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, about the disconnect: “Part of the reason is that the people who write about global warming for most newspapers and TV are not the same people as those who tend to cover weather. In general, the media is covering this as all sort of unconnected events, just regular weather maybe gone a little wacky. But, in fact, the scientific community has predicted for more than two decades now that as we pour more heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the planet will heat up, and that would redistribute water. If you heat up the planet ... you evaporate more water, and areas that are wetter will tend to see more intense rainfall and deluges and earlier snowmelts, and all that will lead to flooding. So what we’re seeing is exactly what scientists have been telling us would happen because of human emissions.” Perry Beeman is an award-winning investigative reporter for The Des Moines Register, and former president of the Society of Environmental Journalists. From his flood-racked city of Des Moines, he told me: “Not even a few weeks before this all happened, we were in the middle of doing a climate-change series that’s going to run over the year. We had two-page graphic talking about the different things that would happen [in Iowa as a result of climate change] and pointing out ... that you would expect more torrential rains. What has happened here is consistent with many scientists’ view of what global warming will mean in the Midwest.” So if the disasters that follow one another, from hurricanes to tornadoes to flooding, are consistent with global warming, why aren’t the networks, the weather reporters, making the link? Dr. Heidi Cullen, a climate expert on The Weather Channel, created a stir in late 2006 when she wrote in her Weather Channel blog: “If a meteorologist can’t speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS [American Meteorological Society] shouldn’t give them a Seal of Approval. If a meteorologist has an AMS Seal of Approval, which is used to confer legitimacy to TV meteorologists, then meteorologists have a responsibility to truly educate themselves on the science of global warming.” As reporters stood in waist-high water in the flooded downtowns of major American cities, President George Bush basked in the sunlight in Washington, D.C., urging Congress to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling and on oil shale drilling, and to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. While regular people are getting hit in the wallet at the gas pump, paying now more than $4 per gallon for gasoline, the oil, coal and gas industries are reaping huge rewards, and applying pressure to open up protected spaces for resource extraction. One of the candidates to replace Bush has a solution. When I asked Ralph Nader about global warming this week, he said: “We’ve got to have a national mission of converting our economy, and the example for the world is solar energy, 4 billion years of supply. It is environmentally benign, decentralized, makes us energy-independent and replaces the ExxonMobil/Peabody Coal/uranium complex. That is why we have got to go for economic, political, health and safety reasons.”
Nader understands how the levers of power and influence operate in Washington, but also how flooding can devastate a community. He grew up in Winsted, Conn., where the Mad River and Still River flooded in 1955, where another Nader confronted another Bush. Ralph Nader’s mother, Rose, shook the hand of Bush’s grandfather, Sen. Prescott Bush, R-Conn., and refused to let go until he agreed to build a dry dam. The dry dam got built, and Winsted hasn’t flooded since. A half-century later, our global problems have gotten far worse. Citizen activists need to shake not hands but the system, holding to account those with power and influence, from politicians to the personalities who report the weather on TV.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate Previous item: Is Clinton the Ticket for Obama? Next item: The Hymen Controversy Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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By Shine Chang, September 9 at 11:48 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
In 1970, Begichs father was elected to Alaskas at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, really?
Report thisIf it is the truth, I ask Begich to add some photos that he with his father or his mother, his brothers, sisters on http://www.earthpulse.com
I want expose the American fascist secret electronic weapon organizations.
I remember 1970, I was four year old, the fascist criminals had tracked me, to 1971, they sent the a word in my head, to 2000, they murdered my father, to 2001, they started cruelly torture me, and told me many many their criminal history, to 2003, the American fascist opened their criminal secrets, to 2004, they murdered Mcdonald’s president by beam weapons…
I don’t believe other people, so I want see your some pictures…
My oldest brother was graduated from UC, Berkeley.
I live in Shanghai.
By Kahron, June 22 at 2:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The Sun is doing this. I can’t see why we are continually missing the point. One of the posters noted the water vapor as being the #1 greenhouse gas. But what causes the vapor? It is a known fact that the sun spots are on the decline - THAT, as has previously been known was the cause of out last Little Ice Age. While I do agree that we need to limit our CO2 emissions in a huge way - to say that we are doing a better job of warming up the Earth than the Sun, is absolutely asinine. Instead of just cleaning up our waters around the world....and putting sactions on wasteful corporations....going to electric cars...living in more urban environments.....we blame everything on our CO2 emissions....not being green...etc, etc. How conceited are we? Put those EV1’s back on the road, so it could help kill the smog/acid rains...move close enough to an area where you could actually ride a bike to everything you need.....and stop blaming yourselves for the weather. It’s stupid.
Report thisBy Lawrence, June 20 at 9:54 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
jpbreeze, you are so right on the target!
Another mitigating factor would be if municipalities and home-owner associations—instead of prohibiting and restricting the freedom of owners to install rainwater catchment systems (and solar systems etc.)— were to encourage such things. (Duh!)
It is infinitely ironic that has extreme weather gets worse, the feds, states, counties, and towns often seem to be forcing many of us into a tighter and tighter straitjacket, preventing the very technologies that would alleviate the problem. Even in San Francisco, according to a recent case study published in SOLAR TODAY, it is very expensive and difficult to get the city’s permission to install a rainwater catchment system.
So why didn’t a progressive city like SF already have a better system for allowing such systems in place, long ago?
The sad thing is that even “progressive” (on the left) and “libertarian” areas are often very ignorant of the simplicity and ease with which a new amendment to the building code can be implemented that insures rainwater catchment systems that are both safe and easy to install—and cheap rather than expensive. All it takes is “common sense”—and a desire to be an asset rather than a pain-in-the-ass, stereotypical bureaucrat.
Report thisBy samosamo, June 19 at 9:24 pm #
Amy,
Report thisI would expect more from you on this. It is all about climate change of which ‘global warming’ is a part. In fact, global warming is a buzz word/phrase for political pandering. There is no doubt that greenhouse gases are on the rise especially CO2 but water vapor is the biggest green house gas.
Climate change is all dictated by a 100,000 or 110,000 year orbital cycle of the earth’s path around the sun which mixes in to the 100,000 cycle 3 other cycles of 19,000 to 23,000 years and 41,000 years.
All these together are considered an ice age when the climate will build ice sheets for about 90,000 years then melt them in about 10,000 years. From what I have read(which I will list here in a bit)we are on the break of the ice sheet melt and the beginning of the the build up of a new ice age. Fortunately it will take while to build huge ice sheets but the change in climate will produce often quick and severe weather all over the earth, such as hurricane and typhoon season coming on strong then weaken and becoming strong again.
But for the right now, the El Nino Southern Oscillation is what is driving the weather systems every year where it will be wet and stormy in parts of the world for a year or 2 or 3 then it will calm down or go into a drought stage which parts of the planet will either have severe droughts or severe flooding and the summer will be very hot or not so hot and winters the cold or not so cold.
But people have without a doubt and without good common sense contributed to the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and the effects of that are still being studied.
Now, for excellent reading on this I suggest you read Richard Alley’s book ‘The 2 Mile Time Machine’ and Eugene Lindon’s book ‘Winds of Change’. There will be other sources listed in these books but these are very good reading for starting a serious layperson’s search into just what science has determined about our weather and climate, it is volatile.
By NrtEstWstSth, June 19 at 6:26 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: zeitgeist
****Related research by Begich and Manning uncovered bizarre schemes. Air Force documents revealed that a system had been developed for manipulating and disturbing human mental processes through pulsed radio-frequency radiation (the stuff of HAARP) over large geographical areas. The most telling material about this technology came from writings of Zbigniew Brzezinski (former National Security Advisory to U.S. President Carter) and J.F. MacDonald (science advisor to U.S. President Johnson and a professor of Geophysics at UCLA), as they wrote about use of power-beaming transmitters for geophysical and environmental warfare. The documents showed how these effects might be caused, and the negative effects on human heath and thinking. ****
Thanks for this. I’m going to search for that title. Sounds like an informative read.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Brzezinski happens to be Barack Obama’s chief advisor.
Report thisBy Mike Drescher, June 19 at 6:13 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I live in S Indiana which has just suffered torrential rains and flood damage. No local media have raised the specter of global warming as being the culprit. The governor of Indiana has recently raised the speed limit, instituted daylight saving time, (which in this area increases energy use) and clear cut much of the Hoosier National Forest, all of which contribute to global warming and yet there has been no link or questions about these misguided policies. The media here are either stupid or afraid.
Report thisBy tangocharlie, June 19 at 4:14 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
As much as I agree with the science behind global climate change, we have to be careful about 2 things.
1) We cannot go linking every major weather event (strong tornadoes, intense flooding, etc) with global climate change. These weather events act chaotically (by the mathematical definition of chaos), so even small changes in an infinite amount of variables can cause these severe events. We have to be careful to separate day-to-day weather and climate.
2) Too often, politicians, talk show hosts, columnists and journalists start making claims about “global warming” and I read their statements and realize just how off base they are scientifically. I wish scientists would set the scientific standard for the issue here and not other people who are not qualified. It only leads to more misconceptions, murkiness, and then eventual apathy about global climate change.
Report thisBy jpbreeze, June 19 at 6:36 am #
I agree with Amy that News Reports are missing some very vital information. They report that “floods” are happening, and that “people” are dying and left homeless, but they don’t address, or even ask about the causes of all this flooding.
True, as Amy says, that Global Warming is a factor. Producing more rain as a result of this “warming” creates drainage problems for entire communities, but the most common problem is that we “pave” over everyting.
Water was meant to “filter” into the earth, refreshing the Water Table, not forced into streams and rivers! They (in Iowa) wonder why this round of flooding is worse than 1993, well, I’ll tell them, it’s because they “paved” over more land during these last 15 years. Water now runs off the land, into the rivers at an ever increasing rate. Dams, Levee’s or other barriers will do nothing to alleviate this as Water is considered the most ‘errosional’ element yet discovered on earth.
It may be time to go back to dirt roads!
Report thisBy jersey girl, June 19 at 2:00 am #
NrthEstWstSth: I read about HAARP just about three yeas ago. It is truly frightening. To speak of this to the uniformed gets you labeled a tin foil hatter. If only they knew or dare I say, even cared to research it themselves they might just get into bed, covers pulled over their heads, never to come out again.
It was another trip down the rabbit hole for me as 9/11 was. The more research you do, the more you realize how in the dark we have been to the manipulations of the elite. Whether it be our elections, energy supply, dollar or yes, even more importantly, our weather.
Is global warming caused by the military playing with their very powerful toy or is it our suvs? The more you know about HAARP, the more you wonder.
Report thisBy amunaor, June 18 at 7:49 pm #
RE: NrthEstWstSth
Years ago I read the book: Angels Don’t Play This HAARP; Advances in Tesla Technology Which Nick Begich co-authored with Jeane Manning.
Jeane Manning took over the ‘Alternative Energy’ editorial section in Atlantis Rising, following the mysterious demise of her predecessor, Eugene Malove, a guy that left MIT, was on the cutting edge of what is known as Zero Point Energy, who had ruffled quite a few feathers in the process.
E-Systems is one of the biggest intelligence contractors in the world—doing work for the CIA, defense intelligence organizations and others. $1.8 billion of their annual sales are to these organizations, with $800 million for black projects—projects so secret that even the United States Congress isn’t told how the money is being spent.
The twelve patents listed at the link below are the backbone of the HAARP project, and are now buried among the thousands of others held in the name of Raytheon. Bernard J. Eastlund’s U.S. Patent # 4,686,605, “Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth’s Atmosphere, Ionosphere; and/or Magnetosphere,” was sealed for a year under a government Secrecy Order.
Related research by Begich and Manning uncovered bizarre schemes. Air Force documents revealed that a system had been developed for manipulating and disturbing human mental processes through pulsed radio-frequency radiation (the stuff of HAARP) over large geographical areas. The most telling material about this technology came from writings of Zbigniew Brzezinski (former National Security Advisory to U.S. President Carter) and J.F. MacDonald (science advisor to U.S. President Johnson and a professor of Geophysics at UCLA), as they wrote about use of power-beaming transmitters for geophysical and environmental warfare. The documents showed how these effects might be caused, and the negative effects on human heath and thinking.
The mental-disruption possibilities for HAARP are the most disturbing. More than 40 pages of the book, with dozens of footnotes, chronicle the work of Harvard professors, military planners and scientists as they plan and test this use of the electromagnetic technology. For example, one of the papers describing this use was from the International Red Cross in Geneva. It even gave the frequency ranges where these effects could occur—the same ranges which HAARP is capable of broadcasting.
Begich has served as an expert witness and speaker before the European Parliament. He has spoken on various issues for groups representing citizen concerns, statesmen and elected officials, scientists and others exposing this.
In 1970, Begichs father was elected to Alaska’s at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Republican banker Frank Murkowski (later a U.S. Senator and eventually Governor of Alaska). In 1972, he faced the Republican state senator Don Young. On October 16, 1972, Begich Sr. was aboard a twin engine Cessna 310 along with Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana when the plane disappeared during a flight from Anchorage to Juneau. The wreckage was never found and Nick suspected foul play.
Following the development of the atomic bomb, ever since, the military industry has monopolized science, prioritizing all innovative thought into weapons of power. In the meantime, the worlds population sucks the planet dry with 18th century, carbon aspirating technology.
Here is a detailed video overview of HAARP, Advanced Tesla Technology:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.indi vidual&videoid=1078594
The Military’s Pandora’s Box
by Dr. Nick Begich and Jeane Manning:
http://www.haarp.net/
Peace, Best Wishes and Hope
Report thisBy Ken Alexander, June 18 at 7:04 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
What is HAARP? This comment seems to come from spooksville.
Report thisBy jay sodrosky, June 18 at 6:56 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
you nutbags act as if there have never been any floods or hurricanes before “ global warming” bacame a buzzword. New Orleans flooded just as bad in the 30’s and the Mississippi valley has been flooding since time began. Put down the bong dude!! I hope the oceans rise and kill half the population,its natures way of dealing with pestilent humanity!
Report thisBy moineau, June 18 at 6:22 pm #
DEMOCRACY NOW!, where every candidate gets heard.
Report thisBy troublesum, June 18 at 5:54 pm #
People here do not seem interested in these stories because it hasn’t happened where they live yet. I agree, peedeecee, that we should speak of “climate change”. All I heard last winter was, “What was that about global warming, bring it on.”
Report thisBy Double U, June 18 at 4:13 pm #
Thanks Amy and Denis. Another worthy read.
Report thisBy NrthEstWstSth, June 18 at 3:20 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The real global warmer is HAARP. How about 1 billion watt microwave beamed into the ionosphere? Think a weather machine is impossible? Think again. Its a weapon far greater than any nuclear device. Do some research.
Report thisBy peedeecee, June 18 at 1:36 pm #
It is much, much better to use the term “climate change” than to call it “global warming.” The latter definition invites argument from simple-minded people who pooh-pooh “global warming” because last winter was cold.
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