Quote:
|
Originally Posted by suneel112
I am only a HS student,...
|
You're too young to have a clear understanding of longer climate patterns. Most of us are, actually, but some of us at least have experienced the fact that there
are longer climate patterns.
Quote:
|
I think that global warming and greenhouse gases have something to do with it. One bad hurricane every few years or so is normal, but four bad ones in a single year is just insane.
|
The idea of "normal" is relative. Based on records over the past hundred and fifty years, the past four decades or so have been unusually calm. It looks like a regular pattern of varying hurricane activity is entering the "highly active" part of the cycle, and global warming doesn't seem to be an important factor.
Quote:
|
But we are (or will be) engineers. We have the ability to stop the problem. We have the brain power to invent new sources of energy without the environmental and political costs of fossil fuels. We have the ability to develop microorganisms that will clean up polluted sites.
|
Engineers can invent new things all day, but at the end of the day the general public (and their lawyers) will still be averse to unfamiliar and disruptive technologies. If the goal is to produce less pollution, the answer
today is simple: go nuclear. Unfortunately, that word produces an intense emotional reaction in people who can block its acceptance. Biotech is similar -- any mention of "genetic engineering" sets off alarm bells that can drown out logical explanations.
The real problem is that the people with great ideas on how to solve problems using technology are distrusted by the people who believe that technology has caused more problems than it has solved. This is probably a symptom of the present poor state of public education.