Environmental Crisis and Natural Hazards

Environmental Crisis and natural Hazards

Is there an environmental crisis? Is global warming a reality or something made up by alarmists? How safe is the Nations water supply? In this world it depends on who you talk to and where they live, as to whether we are in an environmental crisis, or not. In America we set the standard for easy living. We drive our cars everywhere consuming more oil than many countries put together. Televisions, stereos, air conditioning and many more devices require endless amounts of electricity. Most people don't care that much of this electricity comes from burning coal. As long as every thing works, we have grown accustomed to the skies being a little dirty. No big deal it's not hurting anyone, right? We don't see any major changes to our lives. All the coal burning and autos are sending too much carbon monoxide in the air. Drilling for oil and mining for valuable metals, they have serious effects on us and our environment. But we don't see any major problems around us. It's like everyone is wearing blinders we are not fully affected by problems such as Global warming so just go on and pretend it will get better on its own.

If you talk to Tulsi Khara she knows and lives the effects of Global warming. Tulsi has lived for seventy years on the worlds largest Delta, at the meeting of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers at the Bay of Bengal. Tulsi had to move recently because the river has swallowed up the island and farmland that her family cultivated for generations. Even the new island in which she moved will soon fall to the sea as well. "I couldn't believe my eyes-the land that I had tilled for years, that fed me and my family for generations, has vanished. It is very distressing." (WWF, 2006). Tusli also contends that the storms have gotten much more intense, their belongings and cattle swept away by cyclones. She says she can sense bad things happening around them and asks why nature has turned so violent? "Things have changed on these islands. We are losing vegetation, and the weather and currents have become unpredictable says Tulsi" (WWF, 2006). Tulsi is not alone, People across the globe, People in poorer counties, simple farmers and herders who still live off the land, see many changes for the worse Drought, violent storms, polluted drinking water. They are trying to live in an environment growing harsher and harsher while Americans and the other Industrialized or "civilized nations" continue to live like these problems don't exist. The environmental problems are swept under the rug. It doesn't affect them directly now, so unfortunately millions of people are forced to try to live with the decisions others made.

A Republican tied to oil, (Senator James Inhof of Oklahoma), was asked if global warming exists? He said flat out "Global Warming is a Hoax" (NPR, 2004). Our leading scientists can't even agree on global warming although more and more are seeing the effects and are beginning to believe. There are still those nay Sayers out there that politicians or lobbyists cling to, to fight change. John Christy is a University of Alabama, Climatologist whose work led to Inhof's statement. "Christy's major contribution has been to analyze millions of measurements from weather satellites, looking for a global temperature trend. He's found almost no sign of global warming in the satellite data ,and is confident that forecasts of warming up to 10 degrees in the next century are wrong" (NPR, 2004). Another scientist Richard Alley, a Glaciologist from Penn State University sees things differently. Ten years ago Dr. Alley was investigating a 2 mile long ice core pulled up from the Center of