Hurricane Shannon - Mid-west can weather this storm

AS YOU read this the people of Jamaica will be counting the cost of Hurricane Dean and others on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico will be braced for what is expected to be an even greater onslaught from that source.

Conventional wisdom suggests that climate change has been influenced by human activity and has contributed to the contemporary ferocity of nature. Hurricane Dean and its recent predecessors are thought to be manifestations of those new extremes.

This weekend’s earnest protesters at Heathrow, who want the aviation industry curtailed, believe the environmental consequences of our insatiable appetite for air travel is having too great an impact on the planet’s wellbeing. They believe that Hurricane Dean’s 145mph winds and 20 inches of rain are just some of the frightening consequences of our flying habit.