Are Natural Disasters Increasing?

Gr 7 Up—This book includes a good selection of viewpoints on weather-related natural disasters, their frequency, and whether or not they are primarily caused by global warming or poor human planning. More importantly, there is much discussion around the fact that naturally occurring disasters are having increasingly devastating effects on human populations because of governments' lack of involvement regarding underprivileged populations. Many believe our planet is experiencing climate change on a scale that is producing increased flooding and drought, which is, in turn, having a devastating effect on the lives of those whose sustenance relies on the affected areas. The poor suffer most by virtue of having no alternative means of support once their local habitat is destroyed. The argument is also made that natural disasters are not in fact increasing so much as occurring where populations should not have settled. Anthropogenic global warming and the economics of disasters are also explored in this context. The concepts are clearly laid out by well-respected professionals in the field, and the arguments are all supported with data, though there is a tendency to overuse acronyms in the text.—Meredith Toumayan, The Governor's Academy, Byfield, MA