The second response to climate change, called "adaptation," requires that we ready ourselves for the climate change now underway and the increased climate change to come in future years. This means preparing for hurricanes that are more powerful in both intensity and duration.
An attentive national government would surely have realized that the Gulf region of the US is more vulnerable to high-energy hurricanes. Indeed, Hurricane Katrina was the third most intense hurricane ever to make landfall in the US. Such a government would have taken more action to strengthen levees.
The Bush administration's negligence is especially shocking given the remarkable amount of scientific expertise that exists in the US. Somehow, scientists have been pushed aside by political operators. But the US government's failings are matched in many parts of the world, and certainly in the poorest countries, where scientific expertise is scarce, and where many governments do not have scientific advisory councils to turn to for guidance.
Hurricane Katrina is a wakeup call, not only for the US but for the world. We are entering a period when good science is vital for our survival.
On a crowded planet with threats to our climate, oceans, forests, food production and water supply, and with global travel and high population densities increasing the risk of worldwide disease epidemics, we must turn to the best of our scientific and engineering knowledge to find a safe passage.
Jeffrey Sachs is professor of economics and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
RSS