Back to Normal?

The holidays are over. As are the first two weeks of the New Year. Children are back in school. Eight to five workers are back on the job. After a somewhat hectic ending to the old year filled with parties and times with families, our lives have returned to their normal routines.

Wait a minute!  Northeastern United States is still paralyzed with record snowfall and extreme cold. Residents are still digging out from the onslaught. Some schools closed because of dangerous cold. Employers have given employees the option to telecommute because getting to work is grueling or simply too difficult. Air travelers have been stranded in clogged airports because of cancelled flights. The sea even froze along part of Cape Hatteras.

               Normal it is not!

What is the meaning of all this weather drama? Noting weather and climate change are not the same, it is likely that climate change is part of the root cause. Our weather patterns are no longer predictors of what we might experience in the year(s) ahead.

As a gardener, I used to keep track in the spring of when various trees and plants would emerge from dormancy. Then I quit doing it, because so much was predictable to the day. We even had a duck with a limp that returned on the same date. And I remember being in seas above Norway, where the Atlantic Puffins returned to rocky island cliffs to build nests - at the same date and same hour every year.

Trying to wish it away or pretending this extreme weather is just an aberrant year. Nor will flying away to warm places. Spending vacation time sleeping in airport terminals is not the same as enjoying time in the sun in Aruba.

People used to believe that if they were careful about their use of products, we could turn this climate phenomenon around. Living responsibly was a code word to guide our choices. Bicycles were ridden to work. Thermostats were turned down during the winter and up in the summer (to minimize use of air conditioning). People grew their own vegetables and avoided eating strawberries in January that were flown in from Chile. Reusable cloth bags replaced paper sacks at the grocery store.

In the Genesis stories, women are cursed to endure painful childbirth. Men are given dominion over all the Earth. But this also was a curse, not a blessing. Humans are part of the fabric of the Earth, not given it to destroy. There are hopeful signs that care of ourselves means care of the Earth. At the same time, political economics is about exploitation. Unfortunately, short-term profits take precedence over global issues. 

Greed and power override our grandchildren's future.

Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Reserve or along both coasts? What insanity! What more will it take than this current weather to resound in the minds of everyone!  How many more billions of dollars does it have to cost due to lost business when the weather turns vicious?