How About This Weather?

I suppose by now it's a truism to try and state that the weather is changing.

For those who have been living in a cave for the last twenty years or so, it's getting hotter...and drier. I live the Midwest portion of the United States, and the change is very apparent here. When I was young (not THAT long ago) in the 70's and early 80's, there was generally a layer of snow on the ground for most of the period between November and April. There were regular stretches of below zero temps, particularly in January and February. The scrape of snow shovels on concrete was a regular sound, replaced later (largely) by the awful growling of snow blows. Kids were out of school on a regular basis, milling around the neighborhood having snowball fights, riding sleighs or saucers, building snowmen, or offering to plow out your driveway. Christmas was not brown or (shudder) green, but white.

Winter was..well..wintry.

Now we're lucky to have three good blasts of snowfall per winter. Businesses that sell winter clothing and equipment are going broke, and kids had better look elsewhere for that extra dollar they used to be able to make shoveling snow for old folks. It's warm, too...obviously I'm not a meterologist and I don't have a huge database of information at my disposal, but memory provides me with some basic overall impressions, and I'd say we have generally a couple weeks of hovering near zero temps per winter. Much of the winter is 30 degrees or above, and it's nothing anymore to see bare brown snowless ground in November, December and even January. I seriously wonder if there won't be a whole generation of kids coming into adolescence who will never really know what it is to go sleigh riding or build a snowman.

OK, OK, I can hear you saying..we get your point. So what?

Well..the "so what" is that it occurs to me that in light of this weather change, not just here in the Midwest but the whole world over, it might not be a bad idea to start believing in science again. We have heard for decades that things are changing, that the pollutants we pumped into the air for centuries were harmful to the ozone layer which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Gasoline exhaust, aerosol sprays, chemical waste from manufacturing plants, have all been introduced into the environment and it just stands to reason that after a time those infamous "greenhouse gases" are going to become trapped and cause major havoc in our atmosphere.

I don't see this as a political issue as much as a survival issue. This stuff is happening right here right now. I don't who you voted for or what your stand is on gun control or abortion or stem cell research or gay marriage. All of that stuff is important in its own way, but pale in comparison to the question of how we are going to face a changing environment that may very well cripple us economically and culturally.

It may in fact be too late to even have this debate anymore. The horses may already be out of the barn, and maybe the best we can do is lessen the damage and deal with its effect. It has taken decades, maybe centuries to alter the environment to its present state. It's unlikely that a few years of driving hybrid cars and using roll on deodorant will make much of a dent in that. But we have to start somewhere. We have to try.

It just seems to me that the argument about whether or not global warming is genuine ought to be over now. What more evidence do any of us need? We've got apocalyptic weather happening right now; now obviously it could get a lot worse, but let's not wait until it does. Let's at least acknowledge what has happened to our Earth and who is responsible and try to figure out what we can do about it.

Again, the argument goes beyond the immediate one. I just can't understand why so many well meaning intelligent people can't see the patterns that so many of us see. It's almost like they are afraid to admit that science exists, that our world is a natural one governed by natural laws that need to be acknowledged and respected. Are they afraid that a world governed by natural laws has no place for spirituality, for God? I don't see any conflict here at all. I believe in God, in a Supreme Being, but surely a God that created a universe would have it ruled by laws which could be understood and adapted to. The fact that you can't get on base by hitting a foul ball does not mean that Abner Doubleday did not exist, to use a crude metaphor.

I choose to believe in a God that wants us to figure some things out for ourselves. Isn't that what free will is all about? Otherwise we had better do away with penicillin and radiation and heart surgery and all the other wonderful things that science has brought us over the centuries. All of those discoveries came about because people believed in and respected natural law and worked within its boundaries to make life better for mankind. In much the same way, we can study and diagnose environmental problems and try to address them. This is no disrespect against God or spirituality. It's following the natural chain of inquiry in order to ensure that human life is sustained and protected throughout the ages.

Maybe it's not so much a threat against God that is suspected, but a fear of the immense amounts of money that would be required to really address these environmental concerns, money that many think should go elsewhere, like fighting poverty or terrorism or disease. I understand these concerns, but I would counter by saying that if you aren't alive, then you can't be poor or affected by terrorists or disease. You are just dead. And that's what might happen if things keep going the way they are going. Ask the people who were affected by last year's tsunami or those affected by Katrina.

It's not even a case anymore of waiting till the last minute or postponing action because the bad stuff hasn't happened yet. THIS is the last minute, and the bad stuff is happening right now.

I wonder if all the memories I have of seasons being defined by the weather that accompanied them will forever remain that; memories. It seems so unlikely that we will ever be able to return to those same types of patterns; maybe we aren't supposed to, who knows? But it does seem to me that there is, or was, a natural order to things and we have gone a long way from that order. Is it that important to drive gas guzzling cars and use aerosols? Is any of that worth the tremendous cost we now seem to be paying?

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...just like the ones I used to know.