Energy and Ecological Basis of Extreme Events

Abstract

Extreme events like hurricane María have and energy basis and play important planetary roles well beyond the effects that they may have at smaller scales. They are part of the Earth’s energy hierarchies that span the whole scale spectrum from the sub-atomic to the planet as a whole. At the smaller scale of an island like Puerto Rico, its intensity, duration, area affected, component forces, and return frequency of each component can categorize the event, and how its component forces interact with affected systems. Using energy calculations it is possible to compare the power, load, and effects of different extreme events that affect social-ecological-technological systems (SETS). Ecologists have always studied the effects of these disturbance events on ecological systems, but their focus and emphasis has changed historically. A SETS approach expands the scope of the traditional ecological focus on disturbances. On the short-term after María, the ecological sector had a greater resistance and faster recovery of its main power source (photosynthesis measured as greening) than did the technological system by delivering power to the social sector. On the longer term, these results are reversed, with the social-technological sector recovering faster than the ecological sector. A case is made on how the state (sensu system’s thinking) and functioning of Puerto Rico as a SETS is a result of extreme events interacting with the social and political condition of the island. The effects of these interactions are measured in the state and functioning of the landscape and economy of the island. To avoid collapses after each extreme event, the changes made after the events must be adaptive or anticipatory of future extreme events. Adapting to environmental change requires the generation and selection of alternative solutions to problems.

I reset the clock.

When my engine finally stills, your assessment begins.

What is left of you and yours?

Although I was born by chance, my end is certain. Deprived of water, I must die. Mine has been a mad dash towards an earthly grave. Was it also a final act of malice? Good and bad come from the same source. It is the duality of things. I can be both curse and blessing. I may have been a tyrant but I served to restore balance.