Happy Birthday Sandy

The devastating effects of hurricane Sandy are obvious and almost a year later, I have to say that I am impressed with the resiliency of the east coast. Times were tough but an article that I found on CNN shows the day after hurricane Sandy one year later. It contrasts different pictures from a year ago and today. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/27/us/gallery/sandy-then-and-now/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

After I saw this article, it jogged my memory of the storm and the many things that the American government and people did to help New Jersey and other eastern states get back on their feet. The improvement is remarkable and if a storm such as this one had happened anywhere else in the world, i'm not sure that the difference would be so great.

Another article that I found discusses the rebuilding of New York, but also what we still have to learn from this storm. While Adam Sobel admits that the weather technology (spotting the storm almost a week in advance) is hard to criticize, he says that the construction of the subways in New York were susceptible to flooding and better preparation could have minimized the effects of hurricane Sandy. I agree with Sobel, but I wonder if he is being a little too critical.

Another point that Sobel makes is that this storm indicates a bigger problem with our changing climate and this should be addressed when dealing with the effects of it. Natural disasters have always been a part of nature and it's hard for me to wrap my head around the point that he is making. I understand that no amount of preparation could truly eliminate any negative effects that a natural disaster typically has, but is it even a possibility to start at the root of this problem? If we are more "eco-friendly" will we be able to prevent things like this from happening in the future? I just don't know if Hurricane Sandy represents all the environmental issues that have developed in the recent past.