With climate change upon us, there’s an article in the current issue of Time magazine by Andrew Blum, adapted from his own Ecco/HarperCollins’ Journey Inside the Forecast that I find bone-chilling. In these days of “prioritizing the role of the private sector in weather forecasts,” the move to “monetize” the current work of the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization is afoot. The WMO has a “public good” mandate, to try and get people out of harm’s way, from which countries around the world reap benefits.
“The weather enterprise” (the private sector) is working to monetize weather forecasting. If the best forecasting is for purchase, the haves and have-nots will be separated when it comes to life and property. Oh, by the way, did you know your smartphone is at work providing barometric information? Oh, just read the article, or the book.
And while you’re at it, read the article by McQuade and Vance on “The Myths About the Mueller Report That Just Won’t Die.”