Book Review - Storm World

With Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis in Southeast Asia, and other deadly storms not yet behind us, environmental scholars and politicians alike are seeing an increase in the frequency and severity of storms. Why?

Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming
Chris Mooney
QC 944 .M66 2007

Mooney, a native of the New Orleans area, writes passionately about this subject. His book examines different ways that scientists and environmentalists have looked at storms, particularly at hurricanes. His inclusion of personal anecdotes, both his own and many others, conveys a sense of frustration at the conflict and divide between the way scholars and politicians view these storms. Like many others, he asserts that the United States does not have adequate mechanisms for warning residents about approaching storms nor for addressing the destruction that they bring. He admonishes politicians to pay attention to scientists who believe that these storms, rather than being exceptions as in the past, are likely to occur more frequency and be more destructive in the future. This work includes numerous supporting and explanatory references from scientific literature, government sources, organizations, and new sources.