Unnatural Natural Disasters

In the wake of several natural disasters occurring over the past month or so, many people are attempting to piece together explanations to describe what is causing tragedies to strike across the globe.

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Mike Lewelling, National Park Service

Are wildfires a result of climate change? https://www.flickr.com/photos/npsclimatechange/1450328713

By Gaurang Dhingra, Staff Writer

Eleanor Cummins from Slate lists the series of natural disasters, including Hurricane Harvey, which dumped trillions of gallons of water upon Houston; Hurricane Irma, which ripped through the Caribbean and flew through the Floridian Peninsula; Hurricane Katia, which then tumbled through the Mexican east coast;  Hurricane Maria, which magnified Irma’s havoc in the Caribbean; and finally Hurricane Jose, a storm currently en route to the United States East Coast.

havoc occurring on the earth has been attributed to the factor of climate change

Additionally, a variety of different natural disasters have gone hand-in-hand with the series of Hurricanes, impacting millions–primarily those located in the Americas. For example, three major earthquakes recently struck Mexico, measuring in at respective magnitudes of 8.2 and 7.1 out of 10 on the Richter scale. Meanwhile, the American west coast has suffered a succession of wildfires since early August due to heat waves which have also resulted in some record-breaking temperatures.

The havoc occurring on the earth has been attributed to the factor of climate change, which maintains consistency with several weather-related natural disasters.

NASA explains that climate change and its effects have become increasingly evident since 1950, and have continued to carry over to the current day and age. Certain effects of climate change pertain to the natural disasters; specifically, the hurricanes and wildfires of late. Climate change leads temperatures to rise, which produces droughts, and inevitably, wildfires under certain conditions. In addition, NASA has observed an increase in the frequency of tropical storms, as well as category 4 and 5 hurricanes since the 1980s.

While the climate change explanation seems to be the most prominent, some may argue that it fails to vouch for the recent earthquakes in Mexico. Climate change has been rebutted by theories which discuss the return of Christ, the end of the world, or superstitions regarding the recent solar eclipse.