Global warming empowered Hurricane

The state of New Orleans would remember for long the day when a Hurricane named Katrina gave them the pinch of global warming.

On 29th August 2005, America faced the fiercest wrath of global warming, when Hurricane Katrina blowing at 145 miles per hour hurled over the state of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 per cent of the city and killed more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi.

New Orleans is still recovering from the ‘shock and awe’ of Katrina. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Scientists and environmentalists predict that many more such devastating storms in the states of New Orleans and Miami are in the offing, as melting polar ice raises the sea levels. They fear rising temperatures will melt glaciers and polar ice caps, raising sea levels and harming coastal residents worldwide.

What is unusual about Katrina is that the power and intensity by which it has hurled over the coastline. Scientific studies and experiments are pointing fingers at factors such as global warming and excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as the reasons behind such vengeance. One such important study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had found that hurricane wind speeds have increased up to 50 per cent in the past 50 years.

Environmentalists warned of such a day long time ago, but reluctant US citizens didn’t bothered to pay attention to the warming. The devastating results of Katrina has taught them the lesson that it is the time when CO2 emissions from vehicles and industrial belts should be minimized as our planet is heating up, trapping all of us in an unpredictable new period in history.

Barter with water

Prior to the use of currency for doing various transactions, ancient people were engaged in less complicated system called bartering, where they used to exchange different utility oriented products with each other. With the passage of time people became more refined and choose currency as their preferred mode of transaction. But with the increase in depletion of ground water, in near future the age old barter system is about to revive.

At this moment water is considered as the most precious natural resource in the world leaving behind oil (petroleum) in the race. The world has witnessed different conflicts, political tensions eventually leading towards war over the control of oil. But soon the world is going to witness the mother of all war, which will be over the domination of water. Even one litre of water will fetch thousands of dollars at that time. The socio-economic model of the world will be reshaped considering the amount and value of water in a region.

Presently there is only 3% of fresh water in planet earth out of which 2% is trapped in glaciers and polar ice caps and only the existing 1% is left for the use of humans and animals. In near future abundant water for drinking, sanitation, industry, irrigation, transportation and recreation will become a dream and nightmare at the same time. Looking at the rate of increase in population it is even hard to imagine how critical the scarcity of water will become in the years to come.

It has been predicted that by 2025 around 2 billion people leaving in different countries will be part of a hydrological war to meet the needs of agriculture, industry and households. Lester Brown, president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington based independent research organisation while discussing about this issue once said, “There are substitutes for oil but there are no substitutes for water. Excessive pumping for irrigation to satisfy food needs today almost guarantees a decline in food production tomorrow.”

In future to ease the tension arising out of scarcity of water the world leaders have to look back towards barter system. Adding monetary value to water will bring doomsday for the world. As only the powerful and rich nation in the world will then be able to posses the right to water and the rest will have to fight among themselves for the minimum amount of water needed for survival. Following the barter system the looming crisis can be solved to some extent. Nations with rich water resource can barter water with the other nations that have abundant supply of some other product.

By this system the water starved nation will receive their desired amount of water and the water rich nation will be enriched with the resource they were lagging earlier.