The Economic Side of Natural Disasters - Page 5

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

There is always a plus side, economically, for many businesses after natural disasters. When billions of dollars are spent, how can it not be beneficial to many businesses?

All the many decades I have been living, the weather and the climate has always changed. The terminology went from global warming, and for some strange reason(think maybe the frigid winters) to the present words.

My concern with natural disasters are things more in tune with now, not a century or two, maybe some time down the road. forecasting along with early warnings have made big differences. Me not driving our SUV? Not so much.

Nothing wrong with building structures to withstand tornado in our part of the country, earthquakes in others, and hurricanes like the recent disasters. How to build them is well known, forcing them onto businesses and individuals is another thing. More codes? Let those that are buying them decide how much their safety is worth to them, not some bureaucrats that know nothing about how to build anything but their income.

No, I am not one that is into a flat earth.

hckynut(john)

hckynut(john)

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
If the events of the past 2weeks don't make that extraordinarily clear to our federal government, I don't think anything would convince them.

Why the federal government? In our state I have never known of a hurricane hitting. A tornado? Yes. A hurricane or an earthquake? Not yet. How about doing what is more of a necessity to fit the specific areas, say maybe those that run the state!

And don't forget, private enterprise has a lot more knowledge about structures than many overeducated bureacrats. And what exactly was "made extraordinarily clear(specificity please)"?

hckynut(john)

hckynut(john)

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@willdob3 wrote:
Having strict building codes only helps if they are enforced.

Something else that would help is maintaining trees properly. Keeping them trimmed and health, removing those that are not. I know there is a lot of damage around but I've seen only one home damaged and that was because a huge, old tree fell on the home.

Power lines are down all over here. Trees fell and knocked the power ones out. That is how we lost power; a tree fell and took out the power lines. Over 200 fallen trees are blocking roads just in my town.

Deaths have been caused by falling trees.

@willdob3

Well, yes, that's the point and they are enforced where I live. They get pretty picky sometimes, too.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
Harvey and Irma were both Category 4 hurricanes when they made landfall in the US.

I'm not denying climate change but weather changes also happen. It has been how many years since a major hurricane made landfall in the US? Something like 12? So I think we were probably due for an active hurricane season.

I live in Ohio but I'm not in the snowbelt or even the secondary snowbelt. However, some years, a weird weather pattern comes along and we end up getting a major snowstorm that just about shuts our city down while the typical snowbelt gets nothing. It happens just about every 20 years.

Not every single change in a weather pattern has to do with climate change either but there is not doubt in my mind that there are serious issues that need to be addressed.

@Lipstickdiva

Climate change IS NOT THE SAME THING as global warming.

We know the earth is warming, the most important evidence is the constant measurement of the oceans which are getting hotter and killing off sea life because of it.

Climate change is when a particular area changes how it used to be. They are related, but not the same.

For example, the climate of SF has changed over the past couple of years. NEVER, EVER, EVER in the history of anyone living here has the temp been 106. It was about two weeks ago. The unnatural change keeps getting hotter and we are losing our beloved fog.

THAT is climate change, it is limited to individual areas.

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

@Noel7 wrote:
@Lipstickdiva wrote:
Harvey and Irma were both Category 4 hurricanes when they made landfall in the US.

I'm not denying climate change but weather changes also happen. It has been how many years since a major hurricane made landfall in the US? Something like 12? So I think we were probably due for an active hurricane season.

I live in Ohio but I'm not in the snowbelt or even the secondary snowbelt. However, some years, a weird weather pattern comes along and we end up getting a major snowstorm that just about shuts our city down while the typical snowbelt gets nothing. It happens just about every 20 years.

Not every single change in a weather pattern has to do with climate change either but there is not doubt in my mind that there are serious issues that need to be addressed.

@Lipstickdiva

Climate change IS NOT THE SAME THING as global warming.

We know the earth is warming, the most important evidence is the constant measurement of the oceans which are getting hotter and killing off sea life because of it.

Climate change is when a particular area changes how it used to be. They are related, but not the same.

For example, the climate of SF has changed over the past couple of years. NEVER, EVER, EVER in the history of anyone living here has the temp been 106. It was about two weeks ago. The unnatural change keeps getting hotter and we are losing our beloved fog.

THAT is climate change, it is limited to individual areas.

And that would be how long vs the amount of time it has existed?

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

THIS IS SCIENCE, NOT POLITICS

The overwhelming number of the world's scientists have been warning us for a couple of decades now that the earth is warming and most of the cause is man-made.

They told us all along we would begin having weather extremes, and that's just what's happening. Bigger storms and hurricanes, hotter weather, drought. One area of Pakistan went up to 164 degrees about a year ago.

The earth cannot survive that heat because the oceans and ocean life can't survive it.

It isn't about one or two hurricanes, it's the entire earth.

golding76 · ‎05-19-2012

Let's get to the nub of this matter: Even if you believe there is no such thing as climate change, why not put a few precautions in place to err on the side of caution? Why not? Refusing to do so is simply being willful and stubborn about your point of view.

As for those who like to say, "I'm not a scientist, so I really do not know if there is climate change or not," your argument is specious. Are you a doctor? Most of you will answer no to that, and yet you follow your doctor's advice, don't you? Are you a financial adivisor? Most of you will answer no to that question, too, and yet you follow the advice of your broker or whoever (if you have one). I could bore you with more examples, but I am certain you understand my point.

Just err on the side of caution for now.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@golding76 wrote:
Let's get to the nub of this matter: Even if you believe there is no such thing as climate change, why not put a few precautions in place to err on the side of caution? Why not? Refusing to do so is simply being willful and stubborn about your point of view.

As for those who like to say, "I'm not a scientist, so I really do not know if there is climate change or not," your argument is specious. Are you a doctor? Most of you will answer no to that, and yet you follow your doctor's advice, don't you? Are you a financial adivisor? Most of you will answer no to that question, too, and yet you follow the advice of your broker or whoever (if you have one). I could bore you with more examples, but I am certain you understand my point.

Just err on the side of caution for now.

THIS ^^^^^

Thank you, @golding76

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

@golding76 wrote:
Let's get to the nub of this matter: Even if you believe there is no such thing as climate change, why not put a few precautions in place to err on the side of caution? Why not? Refusing to do so is simply being willful and stubborn about your point of view.

As for those who like to say, "I'm not a scientist, so I really do not know if there is climate change or not," your argument is specious. Are you a doctor? Most of you will answer no to that, and yet you follow your doctor's advice, don't you? Are you a financial adivisor? Most of you will answer no to that question, too, and yet you follow the advice of your broker or whoever (if you have one). I could bore you with more examples, but I am certain you understand my point.

Just err on the side of caution for now.

It is actually not good advise to blindly follow "experts". Thinking Bernie Madoff here and of course you get second opinions when dealing with serious medical issues.. People need to think for themselves not just accept things because they call themselves experts>

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

The point I tried to make yesterday was to urge people to consider the cost of what's happening.

It is being reported that Harvey and Irma will each cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars... each. That means you and I paying the bills.

It's going to keep happening unless we put effort into planning and helpful changes. Do you really think each one of us will be able to keep paying for such disasters, because they will keep coming.