Discuss: Warming Comes to Town

Seasonal disruptions are only the beginning. The wind and weather patterns that we could once count on in Ohio are no longer there. We have seen I-75 closed twice in a six month span due to flooding. To my knowledge this has never happened in the history of our time. Frost come at different times later this year making it very difficult to gage when to plant. In my noble attempts to educate I have came to the conclusion that most are merely content to indifference.  Skiing is a business farming and agriculture are life. All this rain now and perhaps there is not guarantee that the rains will come during the summer. Yes the climate is shifting. Here in Ohio the rumor is ocean front property and tropical climate. Perhaps not in my life time, but it is a rather scary thought none-the-less. Perhaps the deist had something correct when it came to having the world as a big watch. I hate to say that time will eventually stand still. Then it will be to the great watch maker to wind the watch. The question we have to ask ourselves that as a species what lengths we are willing to go to in order to survive.

I know the feeling.  I applaud the makers of the exhibits for the information is important and some don’t believe it or have it.  Indifference is one thing, misinformation or lack of it is another.  I ask myself, what is indifference and what can I do?  Personally I look to some of the developing countries. (look at that word “ developing”! into what?) ..and to earlier times.  What is attractive about earlier times where community was stronger than consumption.  Everything seems to be consumable now, even information.  I am struggling to find the paradigm for change, radical change.  I seems to be teetering on solutions as an individual vs. as part of a collective or community, including a community proceeding into the future.  The large carbon producers for individuals are home heating and cooling and transportation (including transportation of goods, like food etc.) The large carbon producers of our society are supply of consumer goods, war, institutional lethargy.  We can see examples of human kind struggling and sometimes succeeding to break through, to create new models.

In Germany, Factor 10 , is studying ways to produce like nature does, with zero waste.  It has been called the de-materialization of society.

While I believe that denial is a force that is nearly as powerful as love and gravity, I don’t believe the problems presented by global warming are nearly as simple as the description of an ambitious exhibit as reported in this article. The fact is, Boulder often enjoys warm and sunny weather in November - so it’s not at all unusual to have a 65 degree day in the late autumn. It’s not unusual to have a 65 degree day in January, either, though it would be strange in a mountain town like Aspen. Speaking of the mountains, though last year didn’t have very much snow, this year - the one reported in the article - had record snows in many places. Climates cycle. Fashion is ephemeral. Trends disappear in a heartbeat. We must learn to be engaged and interested in our planet’s health for the rest of our lives.

I live in Boulder, Colorado. Here we have a wonderful group - Boulder Relocalization that is working to bring back lost knowledge in communities through projects where individuals creat projects that address issues global warming will foster. The strongest focus, so far is local food. The goal is to make Boulder able to feed itself with no outside help. This ia a great model for other communities. It is,in fact, a national model.

Readers might be interested in a book by Robert Leslie Franklin, Miracle at Square Top Mountain..An extraordinary man whose written other books and his relationship with creatures...he spent a summer with the pikas back in 1959. Incredible and true story of his relationship with these creatures!!! And sad of course as we see yet another devastation of our beloved creatures lives…

Sagewalker

Climate has been in constant flux on this planet since time began.  In Missouri, where I live, we’ve had more snowfall this year than I remember having in the last 8, and weeks at a time where temperature has been 10-20 degrees below average.  This article is hardly comprehensive or convincing as a piece of anthropogenic global warming propaganda.