Global Warning The link between climate change and natural disasters is increasingly apparent; in the coastal community of Santa Barbara, the immediate effects of climate change are even more visible. WORDS by DARE FITZPATRICK ART by CLAIRE TOLLES
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limate change is a topic of increasing urgency as concerns grow over the immediate effects of humans’ impact on the environment. The back-to-back natural disasters popping up seemingly all over both the country and the world are the most immediate foreseeable manifestations of climate change. Although there are correlations between an increase in climate change and an increase in natural disasters, some argue that there is not an abundance of concrete evidence in terms of which aspects of climate change lead to which natural disasters. “The link between climate change and natural disasters is a difficult connection to make,” AP Environmental Science teacher Erik Faust said. “Our understanding of climate change is based on modeling using new data gathered from a
variety of sources, like the fossil record, ice core samples, etc. So, we can make assumptions about what will happen when climate change occurs, but our models are incomplete at best.” This lack of consensus in regards to climate change and natural disasters further encourages the doubts some hold against the belief that human-caused global warming exists at all. “That being said, many people have referred to climate change/ global warming under a new phraseology of ‘global weirding’ precisely to describe how fairly predictable weather patterns will continue to act more unpredictable in the future,” Faust said. “What climate scientists generally agree on, though, is the fact that weather tends to be more severe in
certain areas than in the past.” Climate disasters are something familiar to residents of Santa Barbara as just a few years ago the Thomas fires and Montecito mudslides devastated the community. “In Santa Barbara we likely consider three types of natural disasters to be of the biggest concern,” Faust said. “Flooding from storms, wildfires, and earthquakes. So, likely we will continue to suffer from faster moving, more numerous, and more severe wildfires as well as the residual effects from wildfires like those we saw during the Montecito debris flow. Rising sea levels will contribute to a higher likelihood of flooding during storms as well as the continued threat of sea water intrusion into freshwater sources as well as sewerage systems.” Co-Environmental Club leader senior Phoebe Ray said, “As the global temperature rises, as ocean temperatures rise, hurricanes increase and when the overall global temperature increases, that can make places more dry and more prone to fires and especially in California where we are in a drought—it’s just making it worse because we are already in such a dry climate.”
