Is chasing storms ethical? After one profit-hungry chaser published the photograph of a dying child, it’s time to re-evaluate if this is acceptable.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/06/19/pilger_nebraska_tornado_photo_why_stormchasing_has_become_unethical.html
As someone who works as a disaster researcher and consults on emergency response, the fewer people we have in the path of destruction, the better. While yes, sometimes we still need ground-truth reports from spotters, but the NOAA satellite upgrades are getting pretty fantastic. Not only that, but spotters are trained, while anyone with a death-wish can go storm chasing. I’d even be open to debating if spotters are strictly necessary — just like I advocate for using robots to investigate active volcanoes, I’m all for getting “good enough” reports from machines instead of fantastically detailed reports from people in a risky situation.
I already habitually watch chaser footage on mute; it may be time to flat-out stop watching to keep chaser footage as it escalates into disaster-porn.
http://space.io9.com/twin-tornadoes-devastate-nebraska-town-1591839622/
http://thevane.gawker.com/storm-chaser-ignites-firestorm-after-posting-photo-of-d-1592304285
