Misleading article on global warming

The May 19, 2008 Sun-Sentinel article entitled "Study blasts global warming fears" on hurricanes and global warming is biased and misleading, and it encourages complacency when urgent action is needed. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-flbstudy0519sbmay19,0,5299587.story

Hopefully the number of Atlantic hurricanes will decrease as reported in a new study by NOAA's Knutson, although the study also predicts the possibility that storms will carry stronger winds and much heavier rains. AP reports, "Knutson acknowledges weaknesses in his computer model" and that it "significantly underestimates the increase in wind strength.. Some other scientists criticized his computer model." http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9YzbkbPjYwP_3-9wZhTNbMcZSAQD90OGDV80 There is still considerable disagreement among leading climate scientists about what the future may actually hold with regard to hurricanes.

What the article also fails to report is that hurricanes are not all there is to fear about global warming. There is no doubt that sea level rise threatens coastal areas worldwide and is being caused by thermal expansion of the oceans and melting glaciers. Vulnerable South Florida will have to adapt to eroded beaches, flooded waterfront and low-lying property, seawater invasion of coastal wetlands including the Everglades, greater impacts from hurricane-induced storm surges, and, most importantly, saltwater intrusion of the Biscayne Aquifer that supplies most of our fresh water. Should we ignore predicted global increases in droughts, wildfires, heat waves, floods, violent weather, extinctions of many animal, plant and marine species, tropical diseases, and the disappearance of mountain ice sheets and glaciers that feed the world's rivers and provide water needed by billions of people and agriculture? We need to understand that global warming is real and it threatens to change life on Earth in fearful ways. Unless everyone everywhere changes the way energy is produced and used, and does it fast, this will be a far less hospitable world for our children and grandchildren. The media has a responsibility to tell the whole story. Barry N Heimlich, President, Florida Energy Imperative, 3650 North 36th Avenue, #55, Hollywood, FL 33021, 954-963-2428, mailto:FLenergy@bellsouth.net