Hurricane Sandy: Not a Coincidence, Scientists Say

In statement made on Tuesday, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the vice chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, expressed his conviction about the devastating Hurricane Sandy not being a coincidence, but a demonstration of the consequences that global weather changes have on the planets' evolution.

With the latter events and study proving that global warming is a continuously increasing phenomenon, with grave consequences on different fields of the Earth's existence, the question about a natural disaster being in any way caused by it became almost unnecessary.

“The new question should probably progressively become: Is it possible that climate warming has not influenced this particular event?” van Ypersele declared, as cited by Yahoo! News.

However, Michael Oppenheimer from Princeton University says that it's not that the storm was caused by the global warming, but the problem is the proportions to which the latter has led it.

He explained that the sea level had significantly risen because of the weather warming and this made the hurricane much more powerful than it would have been otherwise.

The debates on the measures to be taken to prevent the rapid weather change are at the center of the world's attention with the two-week conference in Doha, Qatari capital, being on its third day.

Much is expected from this international conference. Nonetheless, van Ypersele said discussions are going too slowly, the participant countries appearing to rather promote their national interests than trying to solve a global problem.

“I would say please read our reports a little more. And maybe that would help to give a sense of urgency that is lacking,” declared van Ypersele.

Several other scientists subscribe to his discontents.

“These are the kind of people that it is probably a good idea to listen to,” said Marlene Moses, leader of a union of island people.

“It is very much in the interest of small islands to focus on the science, which is why we have always based our positions on the latest research and why here we are calling for dramatically higher ambition.”

While the conference is slowly going on, worrying reports about natural disasters are coming from all around the world.