16-02-2025
As a meteorologist, I couldn't do my job without maps and names of places. One stands out. Sort of.
During the early part of the 16th-century, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller created a map putting a Latinized version of Amerigo Vespucci's name on a piece of land that had been inhabited for centuries by hundreds of indigenous nations. It's generally accepted that Vespucci figured out the continent we live on was separate from Asia, so the Italian got the honor, thus the name 'America' was born.
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Ironically, Vespucci, of course, wasn't an American. That wouldn't be possible for another 283 years when the Naturalization Act was passed. If Native Americans had labeled a map of the same place we now live in, it would have probably seen the name 'Turtle Island,' based on their deep spiritual beliefs and a respect of the relationship between all living things and the connectedness of which we are a part.
The warm waters bordered by the United States, Mexico, and Cuba provide immense latent heat for hurricanes, and some of our biggest storms here in New England. Is a new political label on a map going to make forecasting better? Will any name slow down our warming climate or lessen the impacts of more intense storms?
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I'll leave the political winds to those actors and stick to doing my best to let you know whether you need a shovel, an umbrella, or sunscreen.
