I keep thinking about a meteorology class I took 20 years ago in college. The instructor was a thin energetic, intense guy who advocated getting up at 4 am each day. He was likeable, intelligent, just the littlest bit
I don't remember much from that class. My idea of watching the weather is generally along the lines of looking out the window. However, I keep thinking back to one lecture that really did stick with me all of these twenty years, perhaps because of the intense passion with which it was delivered. He said...
"People think global warming is no big deal. It sounds sort of warm and fuzzy and harmless. So the temperature goes up a couple of degrees, no big deal right? Wrong. Wait, just wait twenty years. When we see drought as bad as the dust bowl, when half of New York City gets wrecked by a hurricane, when upstate NY is worried about tornadoes, when the weather gets so erratic that you see snow one week and overbearing heat the next, when half the country is burning up and the other half is drowning, when 100 year floods happen twice in five years and tornadoes are leveling whole cities, all of that within a few years, that's when people will start to believe that this is real. They'll still be arguing and denying, but just wait twenty years. The weather is gonna get a whole lot more interesting."
I keep thinking about this and I keep wondering what that guy might have to say today. I sure would like to ask him what he thinks the weather will be like in another twenty years.
Very thought provoking! We've been having weird weather over this side of the Atlantic too. The coldest Spring in 50 years, the most rain last year in 100 yrs and now some of the driest weather for the last two weeks - soon to be followed by rain. Can't help thinking Mother Nature's trying to tell us something?
ReplyDeleteThat is just plain scary. Was his name Nostradamos? I've lived here in Iowa almost 4 years. I've seen the Missouri River flood like he predicted. A tornado nearly leveled a town 15 miles from me, and devastated another one in Kansas. That doesn't count the ones this year. We had snow and ice on May 1st, and 2 weeks later it was 105 degrees. My friends on Facebook from different parts of the country talk about weather such as you have had. Floods in south Florida, dust and drought elsewhere. And meanwhile, people keep shooting each other.
ReplyDeleteNancy in Iowa
Oh my gosh, a Portent. It's true, too... it's been like that here this year, too. We had snow on May 2nd, and we are expecting severe storms tonight, and it FEELS like it outside right now. I've done chores early, just in case.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding!
ReplyDeleteSigh...I too, have been preaching this for 20 years, and been concerned about it for over 30. Part of the denial for most is in the terminology. I've never called it global warming but global climate change, and have for over a decade. We are reaping what we have sown. to top it off, I live in a state where it is illegal to discuss climate change, or make decisions based on real science. I am thankful that I chose to NOT have children...
ReplyDelete