Ever since the Climategate revelations, I have been a pretty skeptical on the imminent dangers of anthropogenic global warming. But I am a resident of Los Angeles and I sure didn’t need the horrible news of today’s quake in Japan to remind me of the reality of earthquakes. I’ve been through enough shakers myself, including the 1971 Sylmar quake when a woman told me she saw the San Fernando Valley roll like a blanket while she was watering her lawn at six in the morning, the time terremoto hit. That baby was a mere 6.6 on the Richter scale, a baby indeed compared to the 8.9 Sendai quake. But it didn’t seem like a baby to me because I was awakened by a cascade of bricks coming down next to my bed from a chimney hidden in the wall of my old house I didn’t even know was there. If the bed had been three feet over, I wouldn’t be typing this now.
So, Al Gore, if you come to me and say we should be spending more on earthquake preparedness, I’m listening, even to you. Global warming – not so much.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member