PrintDecember 2, 2007
One cost of global warming hype?
Did public officials' acceptance of erroneous global warming hype about hurricanes delay imposition of water rationing in the South? All during September and October a common refrain in the Southeast was "I know this is not nice to say for those living on the coast, but could we ever use a big hurricane about now."
The climate change hype has very real costs. In late October news of the extreme drought in the Southeast seemed to burst upon the nation. This was despite the fact an exceptionally severe drought had been a year in the making. It seemed many government officials had been silently counting upon one or more of those hurricanes the experts had predicted earlier in the year to bring soaking rains to the region. Water restrictions are extremely unpopular. As long as their remained the hope of hurricanes, I suspect many officials tried not to impose them even as their reservoirs shrunk drastically in the summer's heat.
