Talking Hurricanes

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. In the years since, as residents have come and gone and rebuilt their lives, a lot has changed about the city-- including, says Katie Carmichael (Virginia Tech), the way people talk. The author of Sudden Spring, Rick Van Noy (Radford University) says that, in many Southern communities, climate change is already here. Later in the show: Residents of Tangier Island could become some of America’s first climate refugees—unless they get a much needed sea wall. Through a partnership with Google, a Virginia project is hoping to raise awareness of Tangier’s plight by allowing people from anywhere in the world to visit the endangered island—virtually. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of island nations stand to lose their homes to rising sea levels. Anthony Boese is studying the ethical, political, and economic decisions needed when masses of people are forced to leave their island homelands. Is there a better way to assess the potential damage of an approaching hurricane? Meteorologist Stephanie Zick (Virginia Tech) believes that studying how, where, and when hurricane loses its power can give us a more accurate picture.