Post-Hurricane Considerations

Last week, I did not put up a post - the weekend was consumed with not buying milk and bread, and with moving wind-vulnerable objects (lawn chairs, tools, bikes) into the wind-protected shelter of my ancient shed. The real risk to my home is the pecan tree that is leaning precariously and will probably sooner or later take down the corner of the house and the piano.

We all prepare, in some way, for weather. And then, afterwards, there is clean-up - FEMA and rescue services were rightly praised for better organization and communication than what we saw when Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. So, we are getting better at responding to extreme weather, which is probably a positive, as we are likely to see a good bit more of that in the future.

But, other than buying bread and milk, what else could we do? Acknowledging and responding to patterns in global warming, for example, comes to mind - scientists agree that man-made changes are affecting the earth's weather pattern. We must respond, and yet many of us prefer not to - we are set in our comforts, in our beliefs, and in our routines. An interdisciplinarian might be interested in asking questions about this: what would it take for an ordinary household to consider giving up fossil fuels? how could solar energy be marketed? what belief systems prevent a nation as educated and wealthy as the US from fully responding to the need to change our energy consumption and use of the environment (wetlands, forests, space in general)? These are complex issues, to be sure.

Interdisciplinarians are also aware of global issues. Hurricane Irma was tough enough on Florida and Georgia, but what about the islands in the Caribbean?

Clearly, any person interested in public health, a large field which relates several disciplines, such as medicine and epidemiology, social behavior, geography, politics, and history, would gain from having a look at the effects of Hurricane Irma.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, President Trump was asked whether the White House was reconsidering its stance of denying global warming, and his response was that this was not the time to do so; that this was the time to clean up and help victims.
I think he might be wrong.
This is indeed the time to ask and address some tough questions about how we live our lives and what effect our choices have on our global environment, and it is also the time to equip students with some skills to articulate questions about our future. Interdisciplinary Studies, with its emphasis on relationships between attitudes, science, humans, and, yes, even weather!, is an excellent starting point to provide and practice those skills.