“Lord, what fools these mortals be,” exclaimed the fairy Puck in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Obviously, Puck was talking about climate hysterics who blame everything unusual that happens these days on climate change.
It was inevitable, then, that the earthquake on Friday on the East Coast centered in the New York/New Jersey area would lead to learn-ed men and women of science (and not so learn-ed men and women) drawing the logical conclusion that because it’s bad and it happened on this planet, it had to be due to climate change.
For the record, earthquakes are the result of stresses building up along fault lines in the earth that suddenly “slip” shooting one fault over another causing the earth to move. These are massive forces at work, dwarfing any attempts by humans to control or affect them.
But if you look really, really closely and wish really, really, hard, you can see climate change at work in the earthquake.
Dr. Antonios Marsellos, an associate professor in the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability at Hofstra University, tries to explain.
“An earthquake is based on tectonic plates, and New York is sitting on a ‘lazy’ plate, which is good, meaning we do not have so many earthquakes, but there are other things that happen — too much rain or drought,” Dr. Marsellos told NBC New York.
The rain can lead to floods that if they go on long enough, could result in landslides. The slides can “lubricate” faults and may be a reason for the increased frequency of quakes, explained Dr. Marsellos.
Jeffrey Park, professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale University, also thinks that climate change had a hand in the earth moving billions of tons of rocks.
Dr. Park indicated the continuous rise in sea levels can increase the amount of pressure exerted on the Earth’s shelves and coastlines, resulting in mostly scattered and infrequent quakes with long lead times.
The positive takeaway is that experts say there is no need to be alarmed and no elevated quake is expected any time soon.
Anything that can “lubricate” the earth well enough to cause an earthquake needs to be bottled and sold. “White Lightning,” indeed.
You might recall Rep. Hank Johnson sitting in a committee hearing in 2010 worrying that Guam would “capsize” because there were going to be too many Marines on the island.
He queried Adm. Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific fleet at the time.
“My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize,” Johnson said. Willard paused and replied, “We don’t anticipate that.”
The admiral gave the proper response; respectful and unintentionally hilarious. But what do you do with this “science-based” candidate for the Senate from New Jersey?
I experienced my first earthquake in NJ. We never get earthquakes. The climate crisis is real.
The weirdest experience ever.
— Christina Amira Khalil (@Christina4NJ) April 5, 2024
Ms. Khalil linked to an article in an insurance journal that discusses links between climate change and earthquakes.
- Geologists have pointed in recent years to an apparent correlation between water weight on the Earth’s surface and the potential for earthquakes.
- Past seismic activity has prompted some researchers to investigate the potential effects of increased global precipitation and drought on earthquake frequency.
Geologists have found an “apparent correlation”? Researchers are investigating the “potential effects” of more rainfall and drought on earthquake frequency?
Rainfall or drought? Which is it?
Naturally, Ms. Khalil came in for a good old-fashioned internet spanking.
The earthquakes seem to happen in the states with the most aggressive epa restrictions.
Climate intervention must be causing earthquakes.— Some Welder 🇺🇸 (@SomeWelder) April 5, 2024
Everything bad that happens is because it goes against my politics
— Razor (@hale_razor) April 5, 2024
Iowahawk weighs in.
https://t.co/flDCHDeulM pic.twitter.com/VXKSIpsuYZ
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) April 5, 2024
If she can play that game, anyone can.
I hit a pothole today. The climate crisis is real. https://t.co/1RSE5mWe9x
— Caleb Jordan Schulz (@Based_Jedi) April 6, 2024
And a word to the wise.
You can’t fix stupid. But!!! You can stop electing it. https://t.co/Xsilw6Sw11
— G (@TCC_Grouchy) April 6, 2024
Climate change is the newest Marvel superhero.
Is there anything that climate change can’t do? https://t.co/gXR6MtCldV
— Mike LaChance (@MikeLaChance33) April 5, 2024
The sad part of this hilarity is that there some are people actually taking this seriously.