Another article I just wanted to post so I could employ a snarky title. (They’re underemployed, too, these days.)
Hurricane Season Combined With COVID-19 Pandemic Could Create Perfect Storm
Phys.org / June 16, 2020
Read closely, and try to see if you can decipher exactly what they are trying to convey. I’ve read it twice, with so little success.
When extreme climate conditions interact with stressors to social systems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences could be severe
OK, so far so good. That seems to be the gist of the whole article. But what is all the rest of this stuff?
unless experts from diverse backgrounds
Get ready to hear more of this…
work together to develop comprehensive solutions to combat their negative impacts.
“Their” negative impacts would seem to be a misplaced reference. It seems “negative impacts” refers to “consequences,” rather than the nearer “experts,” “backgrounds,” or “solutions.” But be that as it may . . .
That’s the recommendation of a new article in Nature Climate Change published Monday and co-authored by a University of Central Florida researcher.
Thomas Wahl, an assistant professor in UCF’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering and a member of UCF’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research,
“Integrated Coastal Research” — vaguely implying integration of either races or disciplines, or both — not by accident, I suspect . . .
is one of 14 experts with diverse backgrounds who authored the article.
Dammit! All experts’ backgrounds diverge! What a weaselly term!
“In the perspective article . . . “
I’m not familiar with this term. What is a perspective article?
“. . . my input mainly focused on the impacts of connected extremes on the water sector,” Wahl says. “With my research group at UCF, we have extensively worked on many different projects focused on compound flooding, when, for example, storm surges coincide with extreme rainfall or high river discharge.”
Good. now we’re getting somewhere understandable.
The article brought together scientists and stakeholder representatives . . .
What?
with different backgrounds,
What? Of course they have different backgrounds.
ranging from the natural sciences to social sciences, public health and engineering.
Ah. It was just a way to squeeze the word “different” in there again.
The authors focused on four main sectors—food, water, health and infrastructure—where connected extremes often lead to unforeseen impacts.
Examples of connected extremes include the impact of Hurricane Maria in 2017 on Puerto Rico’s under-maintained infrastructure, limited budget and aging population, and the spring 2011 Mississippi River floods in which water was released to protect urban areas at the detriment of agricultural lands.
Back to understandable science-talk. Not exactly good English to say “at the detriment of,” but that’s the least of your problems.
A present example could be the COVID-19 pandemic and the current hurricane season, Wahl says.
“The COVID-19 crisis will very likely increase the impacts associated with the climatic extreme events that will inevitably occur . . . “
That’s statistics for you. Inevitably, something more extreme than average will occur . . .
” . . . somewhere across the globe over the next weeks or months . . .”
That’s how “inevitably” works . . .
” . . . or already have occurred,” Wahl says.
That’s NOT how “inevitably” works. At all.
“For example, shelters cannot operate at full capacity, health care systems are already under pressure, and emergency funds are depleted.”
Yup. Bad. Got it. How much did this study cost?
The researcher says many of the most impactful natural hazards experienced over the past decade could be considered connected extremes, where either different factors in the physical climate system combined in unfortunate ways or the impacts were made worse by interactions between physical and societal systems.
If you thought that paragraph was boilerplate gobbledygook, you ain’t seen nothing yet:
“It’s important to recognize and treat connected extremes as such, and for scientists from different fields to engage directly with stakeholders and decision makers to develop new, robust and flexible policies to better combat their negative impacts,” Wahl says.
Ah, overall I feel dumber for having read this. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wahl!
I read at a pretty speedy clip, but still … That’s 3 minutes of my life I’ll never get back 😡🤬
Sorry, Andy!
Okay, this is what I got.
“When things are sh#tty, if you drop a hurricane on it, it gets sh#ttier.”
Does that sum it up?
When a big-brain guy with initials after his name writes a Letter to the Editor, this is what you get.
I understand lefty gobbledygook, I don’t speak it very well though.
What I read is that:
Bad Things Happen. Minorities Hardest Hit!
I wonder when wymynz will call to cancel the diverse authors of that diverse article of diverse BS.
“He looked at me in my blazer, skirt, and high heels, with my lipstick, high heels, eyeliner, makeup, and blush!! And beautiful hairdo!! Auugghhhhh! Sexists!”
Olson Johnson: [after reading Oppo’s post] Now who can argue with that? I think we’re all indebted to Thomas Wahl, an assistant professor in UCF’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering and a member of UCF’s National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, for clearly stating what needed to be said. I’m particularly glad that these lovely IMAO posters were here today to read this article. Not only was it authentic scientific gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.
“scientists and stakeholder representatives .”
Aren’t Mormon churches separated into Stakes? Maybe he means Mormons should work with scientists to battle hurricane diversity.
Or to help diversify hurricanes.