You are likely horrified by the heart-rending death and destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.
The immediate need is to rescue people, provide them with necessities, and begin clean-up and restoration of infrastructure.
Unfortunately, the focus, as in the vice-presidential debate, is on the alleged role of “climate change” in making hurricanes deadlier and on the campaign to reduce CO2 emissions. The plight of the human victims is being exploited to promote a political agenda.
Although it has been asserted that “climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe, costing millions of lives,” climate-related disaster deaths have in fact been decreasing, as the graph shows, while atmospheric CO2 has increased.
The frequency of hurricanes is not increasing, as the graph below shows. Nor are hurricanes becoming larger or stronger.
Most of the damage in North Carolina is from severe flooding. Climate alarmists, Steve Milloy states, are calling the flooding “unprecedented,” but this is not true. He provides news clippings and photos from 1916 and 1940. The 1916 flood was even larger than Helene and caused even more damage. Mitigating disaster requires reliable electricity, not weather-dependent “clean energy” (wind turbines and solar panels)—plus hydrocarbon-fueled bulldozers, boats, trucks, and helicopters. A Green New Deal or Net Zero would cripple disaster response.
Additional information:
- Virginia Allen, “Fact Check: Is Climate Change Making Hurricanes Worse?” Daily Signal, Oct 3, 2024.
- World-class hurricane expert William Gray, Ph.D.: The Gross Scientific Faults in the Anthropogenic Global Warming Hypothesis (“Greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”)
- William Gray, Ph.D., Climate Change Driven by the Ocean – Not Humans
- Climate Change IQ Question 1: Would lowering atmospheric CO2 prevent or mitigate hurricanes?
