Answer: No
The Galveston hurricane and floods of 1900, half a century before humanity could have influenced climate to any measurable extent, killed 8,000-12,000 people and remains to this day the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. [1]
After a 12-year hiatus, we are having two monster hurricanes during this hurricane season. Even so, as the graph on the reverse side shows, the number of landfall-making hurricanes is trending downward as atmospheric CO2 increases.
Bad weather has been one of the worst threats to human health since the beginning of history. And human beings have long been blamed for it. Alleged “weather-cooking” was the reason for burning thousands of witches during medieval times. [2] Storms continued to occur, but, who knows, they might have been even worse had the witches been allowed to live!
In Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper, a pauper was made king because of mistaken identity. An alleged witch was brought before him, accused of causing a storm. How did she do this, he asked. “She took off her shoes and stockings.” Curious to see a storm, the imposter king ordered her to bare her feet. He offered her both her life and great wealth if she could produce a storm for him. But she could not do it. Thus the witchcraft theory failed the scientific test of replicability.
Today’s carbon-rationing advocates cannot cause a storm, prevent one, or even predict it accurately, especially decades, years, or even weeks in advance.
Take-home Lessons:
- An increase in atmospheric CO2 does not cause hurricanes. While correlation does not prove causality, lack of correlation disproves it.
- Human beings do not control the weather.
- The billions of dollars that the “climate change” interests want for their international carbon-regulating bureaucracy are urgently needed here for rescue and recovery efforts after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and other disasters that will defy their claims to rule the wind and the waves.
References:
1. Has Galveston been destroyed? Great Falls Daily Tribune, Sep 9, 1990. In: Heller T. This date in 1900—Galveston destroyed by a hurricane. Available at: The Deplorable Climate Science Blog, Sep 8, 2017.
2. Baliunas S. Witches, whisky, and bad weather. Video, audio recording and slide presentation. 23rd annual meeting. Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, Jul 16, 2005. Available at: www.ddponline.org/baliunas.
Printable PDF of Question 1: https://goo.gl/QMq2XT