Bernie Sanders tweeted that hurricane Dorian was “entirely” caused by “climate change,” as though the world has never experienced a category-5 hurricane before. I can’t find his tweet about it now. It was so beyond the pale, I’m guessing he deleted it. The only thing I could find now was this. Unfortunately, this seems to be an un-scientifically-supported platitude. The data is not on his side.
If you just do a simple search on climate change and hurricanes, most of the articles on the first page of results conclude that rising global temperatures are NOT causing worsening hurricane/cyclone activity. I mean, if they WERE linked, then we should see a rising trend of frequency and strength, correlated with rising temperatures, right? And we just don’t.
Don’t get me wrong, you can find sources that support ANY position you want to take about ANY issue. The only recourse in today’s world of fake news is to survey a LOT of results, and make an informed decision. Personally, I’m just not seeing convincing data that supports the theory that climate change is worsening storm activity.
I mean, I kind of get it. A lot of people believe that the earth will be LITERALLY uninhabitable by human beings in 50 years if we don’t do “something,” and they will use whatever leverage they can to try to impart their sense of urgency. I don’t think this is true. I think “sustainable” energy sources will become cost effective in the short term, and eliminate carbon emissions as a point of contention about the environment. Will that stop temperatures from continuing to rise? Well, that will be an interesting thing to continue to watch.