The Tropical Season

I am currently away on a trip in Europe as all of my blog fans know.  Who knows what weather I am experiencingas this was pre-written.  I left the U.S. during concerns of long drought that have impacted how people shower,  how people garden, how  farmers grow crops...to say nothing of how factories may have to change the way they do business in California... which is facing the result of years of severe drought.  During the same week friends of mine were faced with huge rains flooding dry river beds and closing roads followed by 6 to 12 inches of snowfall in Colorado!  In the middle of the country entire neighborhoods and infrastructures were damaged by huge hail and terrifying tornadoes for days, not just one storm front, and there were deaths.  Here in my neck of the woods we hunkered down for the remnants of a tropical storm that had come ashore south of us, but got no significant weather as I packed.  (And this is just in my country!)

So, I repeat, who knows what weather I may be facing on my river cruise?

This is called global climate change---which is really warming.  You know how weather seems more moderate (less cold or less hot) nearer the ocean?  That is because the ocean takes up the heat of a warm season and hangs on to it as you enter fall.  This means those coastal folks have a slower change than the middle of the country where it gets very hot or very cold overnight.  Well, corals are dying, ocean animals are dying, and energy release is greater because our ocean has taken up all the heat from the surface of the earth that it can stand and it now has to release it back into the atmosphere in the form of those el Nino events which create dramatic storms.

Some Congressmen make fun of climate change by showing how ice cubes melt in a glass of water with no overflow (i.e. ocean rise) when all the ice melts, therefore how can the ocean rise?  Even if this very stupid analogy were accurate, it does not explain how the entire planet will change when all the "ice" melts and the cold goes away.  And glaciers are melting and each month is warmer than the last.  But this is happening at a very "slow" paces and not like a disaster movie, so most Americans do not believe it.

Trophic levels (food webs) at the lowest end are breaking down as temperatures change.  Grab a knit shawl and take scissors and cut through the edges in places and wear it every day and wash it every evening and you will see how fast it unravels.  This is what is happening to our food chain.  Huge holes are appearing which are threatening life of all kinds as their food disappears.  (Not just due to climate change, but add in a few toxins/chemicals/hormones and you have a stew of amazing deathly proportion.)

The lands of the haves and have nots are going to be even more defined in the decades ahead and the anger of various groups (religious/political) as they try to survive probably means greater wars (local/global).  I apologize for not doing enough on my part to advocate for a better world for my grandchildren.  Recycling, using less power, using fewer resources was hardly enough.  Taking large carbon footprint trips is certainly not helping.

And, oddly enough I thought the challenges were going to be because of overpopulation by mankind years ago, which is no longer the case !!