The tropical storm Kyle has been upgraded to a storm category 2 hurricane and is approaching the eastern coasts of the US and the state of Maine. It is also expected to rip through New England.
These days it has almost become common to read in the news that the coast states of the US are being battered by hurricanes. Geographically ,the US is prone to storms and hurricanes. But what has given it a new dimension to this issue is the increased frequency of the instances of devastating hurricanes. Over the last decade the number of destructive hurricanes has almost doubled culminating in hurricane Katrina and its massive destruction. So far this season US coasts have witnessed almost five category 3 hurricanes. Meteorologists put the blame on global warming and the dramatic increase in the emission of green house gases.
These issues have put the environmental concerns of US citizens back on the front burner again. Americans have been thought of as the people who pay the least attention to global warming. The apparent sign of that is the avoidance of the Current US administration to sign the Kyoto protocol to reduce green house gas emission. But with a significant rise in the number of the deadly hurricanes on the US coats, the issue of environment is becoming more and more significant for the Americans. One can see the significance of this issue in presidential debates and the popular campaign of the former vice president Al Gore.
It seems that Americans have been more sensitive to these issues because disaster is knocking their doors too.
