Crighton as Kenner?

Michael Crichton seems to use the character Kenner as his mouthpiece. He spouts knowledge out as if he were a walking database for environmental statistics. He rarely has to look for references, but when he needs to he gets his sidekick to back up what he says with the stats that prove it. Crichton certainly did do his homework though. He has several pages of references, graphs, charts, and footnotes in the back of his book and gives a detailed view of what he believes. Crichton did a great job of weaving together a thriller with his theory of environmental terrorism through the voice of Kennar.

Hurricanes and Global Warming

If global warming is in fact occurring, it would be easy to believe that it is strongly correlated to hurricanes and other large oceanic storms. The theory states that global warming increases sea surface temperatures and hurricane studies show that warmer waters intensify storms. I believe regardless of whether or not there is more CO2 in our ozone, hurricanes are never going to be the same strength. The difference in categories of storms seems to be a cyclical occurrance and more closely related to El Nino in the Atlantic. With rising temperatures during an inter-glacial period there is going to be warmer waters which may also contribute to the intensity of sea based storms.