Ah, Weather!

No matter where we live most of us have suffered through a blast of winter recently, some more serious than others. In my world, I know it’s ridiculously cold when I see heavy mist coming off the lake near my house. I know it is time to don lined pants and a heavy scarf that can cover most of my face if I don’t want to end up with frostbite.

I’ve encountered many harsh winters over the years. Of course nothing like the coldest winter day on record in North America which occurred on February 3, 1947 when the temperature in the Yukon reached an impressive -81.4F. While cold snaps never surprise me that doesn’t mean that I don’t long for spring. I tell myself it’s almost here, after all more than half of January is already behind us. Then February will be a short month as we rush toward March, the harbinger of spring, when we can rejoice in warmer temperatures.

But we hope the good weather of the following months will not become so hot that we can’t breathe.

The weather has always been a perennial subject of conversation however it seems to me that it is more and more on most people’s mind now that we know climate change is indeed a reality. The proof is all around us: from almost impossible to extinguish forest and bush fires that consume vegetation and fauna to floods and hurricanes that destroy lives. Yet, there are still some who do not believe the scientists and their dire warnings choosing to hide their heads in the sand!

Of course, climate change non-believers would argue that temperatures have always oscillated between very cold and uncomfortable heat and that weather disasters have always been with us. Perhaps, but they forget that climate disasters have become increasingly severe and more and more frequent and that the temperature of our poor planet is breaking records.

And we’ve all seen pictures of the melting polar icecaps. 

Like most grandparents I’m sure, the state of our world frightens me for my grandchildren who will surely have to live with more and more climatic uncertainty as the earth warms up. Of course, the ray of hope is that all nations are trying to make quick strides to find avenues that will begin to heal our suffering planet.

A younger friend of mine has little hope this can happen in his lifetime, but I believe all of us, including our leaders, are becoming more and more motivated to negate the damage of the past one hundred years. That’s it, isn’t it? The major changes in our lifestyles have come to be only in the last century or so. I’m talking about the availability of non-renewable fuels, cars, aircrafts, plastics and so forth are all recent things in comparison to the history of the world. It has made life easier for humans but the cost has been enormous.

As I see it, we can only begin to repair the damage by improving our respect for Mother Earth and reverse our way of thinking. Just because innovations in all aspects of our lives are appearing at a faster and faster rate does not mean that they must all be embraced overnight. Newer is not better when it damages our fragile world.

But humans are visionary. Let’s hope that efforts like electric cars and aircraft fuel coming from food waste, among others, will become the new norm.

The future of our grandchildren depends on it.