Upon further study ...

There are multiple effects caused by manmade global climate change. Anti-science (pro status quo, pro big business) naysayers like The Chronicle use every trick to deny that humans (particularly huge carbon footprint, huge consuming Americans) are to blame for lousy stewardship, greed & waste. This is the same crowd that denied for years that smoking tobacco causes lung cancer all the while profiting from tobacco sales. When a record cold day strikes they deny global warming. When a flood hits they deny drought. So when the hurricane pattern temporarily changes & indicates there may be the need to modify & refine computer modeling programs, they deny that our lifestyles are to blame. This much is certain: rising CO2 levels contribute to the greenhouse effect including rising ocean temperatures. Warmer sea water leads to stronger hurricanes. There are other noticeable weather changes. Augusta radio raconteur Austin Rhodes remarked he didn't recall ever witnessing hail here when he was young. We have had two hail storms this year alone and several damaging thunderstorms. I attribute this to manmade global warming. Being prepared means adopting building codes so structures can withstand winds in excess of 60 mph. There are no short term solutions to manmade global warming, only longterm adaptations including cutting carbon emissions. Massive impacts of global warming are already acutely felt in poor countries. The cycle in Burma is one. Drought and starvation in Ethiopia is another. Global food production is being negatively impacted by manmade global climate change. Continual denial of human responsibility & continued profiteering at the expense of the world's poorest and least prepared nations is not a solution, is not ethical, and is not responsible leadership.

Many news media have already declared global warming to be real and therefore it is. Don't go trying to confuse global warmers with facts, they're irrelevant. Al Gore has made a movie, for gods sake. Polar bears are drowning and the oceans are rising. We no longer have any polar caps. And, it's summer. The days are already getting warmer. If only Bush had signed the Tokyo Treaty, we'd all be safe now.

Cane, seek help soon.

Regardless of global warming, or not, the bulk of hurricanes emminate from the sun beating down upon the sands of the Shahara Desset in North Africa. This leads to the formation of "tropical waves" which are picked up by the trade winds that take them into the ocean to become Cape Verde storms and , subsequently, hurricances. SO, my question in this day and age of energy shotages and 4.00/gal gas prices>>>>5.00/gal, why not pepper the North Aftrican Saharan dessert with solar panels that would collect all that wasted energy, reduce Cape Verde storms and the cost of a gallon of gasoline? I mean, it wolud be a major international effort but reducing the damage from hurricanes by chaneling that energy into reducing our depency on foreign oil might be woth it?

Hypertension, sounds simi-reasonable, if the owners of the desert would go for the competition with their business. Reasoning doesn't usually enter into the equation when politics are involved. The concept could be used in ALL sun beaten landscapes if the environmentalists would go for it. But, reasoning doesn't usually enter into the equation when politics are involved.

PT - "the law of elbows"? But don't forget....this involves more than sun beaten landscapes in general. These landscapes kill people and have an inordinate amount of energy and potential to reduces global gasoline costs......"where there's a will there's a way"

Here's my problem with global warming...Al Gore invented it. I don't believe in the internet either. Here are some other myths...wind chill factor..if that's true why don't we hear about it in the summer. Fax machines..that's BS...you know darn well somebody is calling somebody and telling them what to write. Truth in advertising.....military intelligence......conspiracy theories against our government...heck we can't count votes in Fl or... or count votes in Fl again this year. Now the government in Michigan is becoming equally as smart....

hypertension is correct about the source of our hurricanes. Al Gore is an egotistical con artist of the highest degree. P T Barnum at wok on the ignorant masses. Why has no one called him "chicken little". Look at the weather channel, follow the storms from Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. The same trade winds that brought Columbus to the Hispaniola are still working. I dare say they have been correct a lot longer that Al Gore. Who wanted a president named GORE, anyway. Gore is now taking his winter vacations on t he beaches of Iceland.

PT - one thing regarding...."if the owners of the desert would go for the competition with their business. "........competition with what business? Have you recently surveyed the businees activity in the sands of the Saharan dessert in Mauritania? Give me a break????????????????

Seems the latest schientific reports state that coole ocean currents will keep the earth cool for at least the next decade. Global warming is a political joke making millions for idiots like Al Ozone who buys credits from his own company so he can squander all the energy he wants on his enormous mansion and air plane. Another of many limo "environmentalists".

hypertension,Who controls the Sahara? While some may lay claim as long as no one disputes it, the entities with money and weapons still control the land. And the exceptional amount of energy transfered to the atmosphere from these areas is on top of the energy contributed from other radiant areas, so removing energy from atmospheric access at any point would affect the weather.....and lead to global cooling ...again. You'll never be able to satisfy the EPA until everyone is living in caves and wearing leafy garments. (you can have your break now)

"so removing energy from atmospheric access at any point would affect the weather.....and lead to global cooling"......isn't that the idea........combating global warming with focused cooling that affects the weather in such a way that hurricanes are reduced, along with pump prices?(I need another break!).

You seem to have missed my last sentence.

Role of Saharan Dust weakening the strength of hurricanes probably deserves greater attention. Googling "saharan dust hurricanes" and looking under Google News or Scholar should in part help to de-confound the naysayers... but the simplicistic version is "more dust, weaker hurricanes" which helps to explain recent years where higher number of hurricanes were predicted and didn't show up. It also helps to consider multiple feedbacks, such as Saharan dust, and it's relationship to global warming... to understand how multiple feedback loops can deliver unexpected results.