SC earthquake a reminder it’s not all about global warming

My recent column ‘Blogosphere fires on AP for alarmist article’ points out the current limiting focus of global warming theology for government leaders, environmentalists and other zealots. I mentioned the close proximity of a pending asteroid (Apophis)—and the only reason we have the correct figures on that is a German teen caught mistakes in calculations by NASA. Early Tuesday morning, in the South Carolina Lowcountry near Summerville (near the larger city of Charleston), a weak earthquake caused a few injuries and some damage. The 3.6 quake happened around 7:42 a.m. according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

I grew up in South Carolina. Tremors are not all that unusual. I remember one occurring when I was in college; it shook the house with enough force to knock a couple pictures from the wall. On August 31, 1886, Charleston experienced an earthquake with a magnitude now estimated at 7.6. The SC Dept. of Natural Resources says, “This quake was the strongest earthquake known to hit the Eastern Seaboard, and it shook with such force that it was felt over 2 1/2 million square miles (from Cuba to New York, and Bermuda to the Mississippi River).” It’s also estimated that 60 people died. Brick buildings crumbled and structural damage occurred 200 miles from the site. South Carolina is home to the noises known as ‘Seneca guns,’ booms that are sometimes heard along the coast. The name comes from a short story James Fennimore Cooper wrote.

Environmental alarmists among us should not come to the conclusion man produces these quakes. DNR says in South Carolina, "[g]eologists have recently discovered evidence of at least five large paleoearthquakes during the past 5,000 years." The state has a seismic past and will likely have a seismic future.

While political dialog targets global warming (now called climate change according to the EPA), there are a number of environmental matters such as the asteroid, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires. It might be said in the fervor to tackle carbon emissions, based on some flawed conclusions set forth by Gorian theologists, we may quite possibly be overlooking the forest for the trees. It wouldn’t be the first time. Whisper the word Katrina.

 Shake Map for Dec. 16 earthquake in S.C. Photos from US Geological Survey.