The devastation in New Orleans has little to do with Katrina, and more to do with the failure of two levees. Let me repeat that; Katrina did not cause the devastation in New Orleans; there's plenty of damage along the Gulf Coast to blame on her. New Orleans is in trouble because the levees failed, flooding the city after the hurricane had passed.
This is an important distinction to remember when we hear in the coming days (Oops, I was too pessimistic. It only took hours.) about how the destruction of New Orleans was all Bush's fault for not ratifying Kyoto.
It also might be good to remember that no climatologist is suggesting that Katrina was caused by global warming. Instead, the concensus is that we are near the peak of a natural 30-40 year cycle of hurricanes.
Of course, activists can't get outraged by a natural cycle, so I doubt you'll hear this much in the news, which is why I point it out now.
Posted by Rich at August 31, 2005 2:42 PM | TrackBack