Why hurricanes should be named after oil bosses

After Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday – the most powerful storm to strike the island since record-keeping began in 1851 – debate reignited over where the blame should lie. Subscribe ► https://www.youtube.com/user/theguardian?sub_confirmation=1 The British-Jamaican climate author Mikaela Loach explains: “Instead of calling hurricanes nice, feminine names like Melissa. Instead we should name them after those who are responsible. So, for example, we can name Hurricane Darren after Darren Woods, the CEO of ExxonMobil, who pushes climate delay and climate denial.” With 185mph winds and torrential rain, Melissa knocked out power lines, cut off the internet and demolished buildings – prompting some experts to suggest the extraordinary intensification of the hurricane may be a symptom of the rapidly heating oceans. Researchers at Climate Central, a nonprofit organisation that analyses climate science, found that during Melissa’s rapid intensification the storm drifted over exceptionally warm ocean waters that were 1.4C hotter than average. These conditions were made up to 700 times more likely by the climate crisis, the organisation said. Fossil fuel companies have played the biggest role in hindering efforts to curb the pace of global heating. ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science, even after the oil and gas firm publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and the climate crisis. Last year, oceans were the warmest on record, continuing a recent trend of record-breaking marine heat. Hurricane Melissa has wreaked havoc across swaths of the Caribbean – read the latest coverage here ► https://www.theguardian.com/world/hurricane-melissa