Appalachian coal mine owners and politicians who scoff at global warming should read the September issue of National Geographic, which devotes a long cover report to "Weather Gone Wild."
Billions in property loss and tens of thousands of deaths are the painful toll of berserk climate patterns, the famed magazine says -- at least partly caused by relentless temperature increases spurred by burning coal and other fossil fuels.
"The Earth is steadily getting warmer, with significantly more moisture in the atmosphere," the report says. "...A long-term buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is trapping heat and warming up the land, oceans and atmosphere.... As the oceans warm, they're giving off more water vapor.... The more water vapor, the greater the potential for intense rainfalls.... Greenhouse gases are the steroids of the climate system."
The report begins with a bizarre cloudburst that dumped 13 inches of rain on Nashville on May 1, 2010, killing 11 people and causing $2 billion damage. A building floated along an interstate highway. Country singer Brad Paisley from West Virginia lost a 60-foot-wide concert screen and much musical equipment. The Grand Ole Opry was like a lake inside.
A chart lists 87 U.S. weather disasters from 1996 to 2011 that cost $541 billion. "On April 27, 2011, the United States was hit by 199 tornados, a single-day record." Deviations by the jet stream have turned the American Southwest into a "new dust bowl," inflicting billions in losses upon ranchers. Wildfires have worsened -- including one Texas holocaust that burned 1,685 houses.
"An exceptional heat wave in Europe in 2003 took at least 35,000 lives," the magazine says. "A later analysis found that climate change had doubled the odds of such a disaster."
It adds: "Insured losses from natural disasters in the United States last year totaled nearly $36 billion, 50 percent higher than the average during the previous decade."
How many more deaths and gigantic property losses will it take before America sees that global warming isn't merely a topic for political debate -- it's an expensive curse upon humanity?
During the Republican convention, Mitt Romney scoffed that President Obama "promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet." The GOP crowd laughed. But billion-dollar losses and thousands of deaths really isn't funny.
Billions in property loss and tens of thousands of deaths are the painful toll of berserk climate patterns, the famed magazine says -- at least partly caused by relentless temperature increases spurred by burning coal and other fossil fuels.
"The Earth is steadily getting warmer, with significantly more moisture in the atmosphere," the report says. "...A long-term buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is trapping heat and warming up the land, oceans and atmosphere.... As the oceans warm, they're giving off more water vapor.... The more water vapor, the greater the potential for intense rainfalls.... Greenhouse gases are the steroids of the climate system."
The report begins with a bizarre cloudburst that dumped 13 inches of rain on Nashville on May 1, 2010, killing 11 people and causing $2 billion damage. A building floated along an interstate highway. Country singer Brad Paisley from West Virginia lost a 60-foot-wide concert screen and much musical equipment. The Grand Ole Opry was like a lake inside.
A chart lists 87 U.S. weather disasters from 1996 to 2011 that cost $541 billion. "On April 27, 2011, the United States was hit by 199 tornados, a single-day record." Deviations by the jet stream have turned the American Southwest into a "new dust bowl," inflicting billions in losses upon ranchers. Wildfires have worsened -- including one Texas holocaust that burned 1,685 houses.
"An exceptional heat wave in Europe in 2003 took at least 35,000 lives," the magazine says. "A later analysis found that climate change had doubled the odds of such a disaster."
It adds: "Insured losses from natural disasters in the United States last year totaled nearly $36 billion, 50 percent higher than the average during the previous decade."
How many more deaths and gigantic property losses will it take before America sees that global warming isn't merely a topic for political debate -- it's an expensive curse upon humanity?
During the Republican convention, Mitt Romney scoffed that President Obama "promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet." The GOP crowd laughed. But billion-dollar losses and thousands of deaths really isn't funny.
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