Do Hurricanes Even Matter? Well, does keeping your house matter, or your car - does keeping your job matter? [LATEST SATELLITE PICTURE + TRACK]

NVDL: People might think the coverage I've given to weather in the Gulf of Mexico has been hysterical. Does it even matter?

Well, yes it does. Even if you're sitting on a farm in Alice Australia, or Amsterdam in the Netherlands, or shearing a sheep in Nieu Bethesda South Africa it matters.

Any major system that enters the Gulf of Mexico basically threatens the energy harmony - and by harmony I mean both security and the uninterrupted even supply of the stuff - of our planet. Now we've had two storms that have effectively cut the power to two large swathes of Gulf Oil. The energy in the Gulf has taken a hit. Not a worse case scenario hit, but a lot of production has been shut in (even if only due to the evacuations involved).

What has happened is the US energy scenario has taken a hit, and they're already seeing gas prices go up $1 (that's about R8). Still, you might not think that's serious, except when the US's domestic supply of oil takes a hit, where do you think they're going to go shopping to make up the shortfall (and by the way, the shortfall is huge - 5 million barrels per day on 8 year low invenory levels).

Yep, they'll go and buy contracts at the same Oil Mall your country shops at. And whatdoes that do? It shoots world oil prices up A LOT. And what does that do? It creates a lot of geopolitical instability. That's a funny combination of two words that can lead to unfunny scenarios - like war. It raises the price of bread and milk (food in general), it makes the company you work for less profitable, and your chance of being laid off increases. Still think a Hurricane in the Gulf is overhyped? Still think when we talk about melting ice caps, CO2 and climate change it's got not relevance to your life? Everything you do affects everyone around you ultimately, including you.

More from Yahoo: Fears of supply shortages, and actual fuel-production disruptions, resulting from Ike's lashing of vital energy infrastructure led to pump price disparities of as much as $1 a gallon in some states, and even on some blocks.

clipped from news.yahoo.com HOUSTON - From Florida to Tennessee, and all the way up to Connecticut, people far from Hurricane Ike's destruction nonetheless felt one of its tell-tale aftershocks: gasoline prices that surged overnight — to nearly $5 a gallon in some places. Late Saturday the U.S. Minerals Management Service said there were two confirmed reports of drilling rigs adrift in the central Gulf of Mexico. "A lot of it is simply incredible," Blumenthal said, "and a lot of the price increases make no sense economically in terms of supply and demand." The price jumps came after the wholesale price of gasoline soared to $4.85 a gallon Friday in anticipation of Ike's arrival. "By the time it hit 6 o'clock news and 11 o'clock news it was like snow was falling and milk and bread were flying off the shelves." "People are outraged," Daugherty said. "Everyone is having a hard time understanding all of this."