The drought that still afflicts Texas has given rise to another controversy over the theory of global warming. Two eminent scientists have looked at the same data and have come to sharply different conclusions.
NASA's James Hanson says it's global warming
According to Inside Climate News, NASA's James Hanson has announced the recent heat wave in Texas that featured months with little or known rainfall was the result of global warming. Hanson and a group of NASA scientists claim the heat wave and the drought could not have occurred without the phenomenon of global warming. Hanson claims he has based his conclusion of 50 years of climate data. Hanson has been an advocate of ending the use of fossil fuels. He has often combined science with activism and has thus generated controversy.
NOAA's Robert Hoerling says it's not global warming
The Dallas Observer interviewed NOAA climate scientist Robert Hoerling. Hoerling pinned the blame on La Nina, an atmospheric phenomenon that causes the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean to cool. This results in lower than expected precipitation in the southwest, especially Texas. La Nina caused an almost decade-long drought in the 1950s that was just as severe as the one that took place in the summer of 2011. Whether Texas is in for a similar long dry period is uncertain. But Hoerling is adamant that it is not global warming.
Can anything be done about the Texas drought?
Whether the cause is global warming or La Nina, there is not much anyone can do about the drought. No one has figured out how to control weather patterns like La Nina or to make it rain where it otherwise won't. If one believes man-caused global warming is real and a problem, the process of changing from a carbon-based economy to a clean fueled-based one would be a long, arduous process fraught with political controversy and economic hardship.
The bottom line is water
Whatever is the cause of the drought, the bottom line facing the state is the lack of water, which is wrecking havoc on the state's agricultural sector. The Houston Chronicle reports the drought has caused a shortage of cattle, which will almost certainly lead to a shortage of beef. That means the price of everything from fillet mignons to Big Macs is going up. Without a cessation of the drought in the short term and the tapping of more water sources in the long term, that state of affairs is not likely to change.
Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network
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