KOFI AWUKU – ASARE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER.
Monday, October 29, was another visit of another monster- Hurricane Sandy. The devastative impact of this storm through the 29th and the 30th was just unspeakable. Residents along with the coastal states of New Jersey, and Newark in New York, were probably, the most-hit zones of the catastrophe. Millions of people have since been displaced and already in need of emergency relief.
The associated floods of the storm submerged many homes and caused destruction to properties of various kinds. Fire guts in New York rendered many homes and properties ash-wrecked. It was estimated that over 6.5 million people suffered power outages because of the wrath of fire that caught electrical cables and destroyed them in the process. The death toll was estimated at 110 people with over 110 houses destroyed since Monday, Oct. 29 according to sources from CNN. In Hoboken in New Jersey, thousands were trapped in water.
Aside from the quick emergency response from state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and philanthropists, political leaders, in particular, have taken a keen interest in the devastation in the face of serious political campaigning towards the roundup of the impending general elections.
President Barrack Obama, whom many described in the circumstance, as the chief emergency response officer, took the bull by the horns, by suspending his campaign trips, and visited the affected zones to express his magnanimity and sympathy for the victims. In a related development, Republican Governor Chris Christie, a critic of the Obama – led administration was noted to have showered praises on President Obama for his prompt and humanitarian reaction to the victims of the disaster.
“I have always praised the president where praise is due and criticized him whenever he went wrong,” Governor Christie said in an interview on CNN.
Among other political figures at the frontline of the scene were: Mr. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, Mr. Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, and Mr. Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York. The latter was reported to have opened additional 65 shelters across the five boroughs and made relief items including food, water, blankets, and pet food available for the evacuees.
“We will get through the days ahead by doing what we always do in tough times, by standing together: shoulder to shoulder, ready to help a neighbor, comfort a stranger, and get the city we love back on its feet,” Bloomberg said according to sources on foxnews.com.
The power failure in the midst of the storm coupled with the breakdown of the backup generators at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital also resulted in the non operation of the hospital, and patients had to be evacuated to other hospitals through the efforts of the hardworking National Guards. The breakdown of the hospital’s supplementary power plants was something that attracted much criticism from a cross-section of the media and the populace, as they considered it simply unfathomable for a hospital of that standing to suffer the blunt because of inadequacies in power support. Meanwhile, hospital authorities have explained that in spite of the fact that the generators were waterproofed in their technological buildup, water managed to enter the fuel-supply pipelines rendering the plants down.
Thousands of air fleets were scheduled around the world, en route the South Eastern ports of New York (JFK) and New Jersey (Newark) were canceled and the ports virtually came to a standstill as a result of the storm, posing huge financial losses to the airline companies. At least 50,000 travelers between the UK and US were estimated to have been stacked up as a result of the storms, Simon Calder, travel editor of the UK’s ‘The Independent Newspaper, indicated in an interview on CNN. Many government departments, state institutions, and financial establishments like the US Stock Market were temporarily closed, which may have economic consequences in the future.
“Theoretically, they should have been able to work with some backup computers elsewhere. It was embarrassing, particularly because it gave their competitors around the world an upper urge and many would have lost confidence in them. To the US Stock Market as an entity, the impact would not be that worse,” said Professor Rick Scott, Assistant Professor of Finance at Saint Leo University.
Experts say changes in the environment as a result of global warming are fundamentally accountable for the occurrence. It is becoming increasingly worrisome to inhabitants of the hemispheres, on the impact of devastative storms that sweep citizens and their belongings almost every now and then. It must be recalled that somewhere around March last year, Japan suffered a similar fate when some citizens dwelling along the coastal city of Ishinomaki were seriously hit by a tsunami and rendered many dead and property losses.
The causative factors of climate change have become a matter of controversy, but upon consistent observations and testable theory, it has been established clearly that it is an anthropogenic phenomenon.
“It is irrefutable, people deny or show apathy, but it is pretty established that this is caused by humans, and we have a role to play, if nothing is done, the consequences are huge for human existence,” said Dr. Christopher Miller, an Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Saint Leo University.
Scientists say, the level of Co2 (Carbon dioxide), in the atmosphere now remains 400 parts per million (4ooppm) and this ought to be reduced considerably to about 350ppm, but the increase is rather phenomenal. As much as our over-reliant on the usage of fossil fuel pertains, the emission of Co2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere continues to pose both short-term and long-term negative consequences.
The way forward is to employ energy efficiency in our technological build-up in the automobile companies, industry, and building construction. The automobile industries must ensure energy efficiency by increasing the mileage for fuel consumption, whereas industry efficiency standards in heating, insulating, and lighting our buildings must be deployed.
Most importantly, there must be an alternative fuel usage, a shift from the fossil fuel-based like coal, oil, and gas to renewable energy sources like solar, wind (geothermal), and hydro-power, which produces no carbon emission into the environment against the backdrop of the Co2 – dominated fossil energy. Nuclear sources are also recommended but not with the fear of terrorism exploitation. As much as we groan and moan about the dangers of fossil energy, they are not good sources of terrorist missiles as compared to the recommended nuclear sources, and this is another area of concern to the world in the face of terrorists’ attacks.
Capitalism and its associated impact of consumerism have gradually landed the world into a complex nucleus of a negative environmental cycle where all are inescapable.
“The solution to this problem must go beyond technology. A change in our mindset about how we value the natural world must take a center stage. We have come to a point, where we need that positive mentality towards environmental conservation and sustainability,” Professor Miller said.
The efforts on the environmental sustainability of the Millennium Development Goal of the global agenda ought to be intensified by member countries and the international body – United Nations perhaps. From the treaties and conventions of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro agreements and the Copenhagen Accord, it is established clearly, the world’s commitment to making an environment safe and peaceful for its inhabitants. Industrial pollution from chemicals, exhaust smoke from motor vehicles, and smoke from industrial chimneys, which are released into the atmosphere have their gradual negative impact of depleting the ozone layer and risking the earth of the ultra-violet race of the sun, which is not merely cancerous to human survival but equally exerting its potency on other natural phenomena, devastating to human survival. These consequences including melting of the polar ice and increasing the ocean level, pose a huge threat to inhabitants of the hemispheres.
For those people living in the tropical zones, the copious sunshine continuous to release the cancerous ultra-violet race because, the people resort to indiscriminate felling of trees and the natural vegetative cover without replanting, and the consequences are huge to the globe and not a single individual or country.
Much as man has minimal or absolutely no control over these natural tendencies, it is advisable that he does the best possible humanly effort, to maintain environmental sanity and sustainability for the current and future generations as well. The onus is no single man’s job; it takes a collective responsibility, so be a part of the solution.
