Sunday 29 September 2019

Weathering the Changes

I'm old enough to remember when the seasons felt "real".

The first winter snows arrived in late November or early December and there was almost always snow on the ground during the Christmas holidays.  By mid-winter, the snow in our yard was often deep enough so that I could step up onto the first branch of a fully grown maple tree.  Snowdrifts along our street came up to my father's chest.  Sometimes there was a brief thaw in late January or early February, but for the most part the temperatures were consistently cold until the beginning of March.

Summer was warm and friendly.  One could spend hours outside without care.  I remember many an adventurous afternoon of biking around the neighbourhood with friends, bird-watching, or wading in the lake.  Evenings were spent chasing fireflies, although the mosquitoes would eventually chase everyone indoors.

Today it's quite different.

Now, winter is hardly winter at all.  The gray of November seems to drag on ever longer, and we're lucky to have snow on Christmas.  Rainy days in January are becoming common.  Temperatures fluctuate so quickly that we can have snow one day, rain the next, and then icy cold that freezes sidewalks and makes traveling anywhere a risky exercise.

The transition from spring to summer seems to happen overnight as we're socked with above-average temperatures beginning in June.  Heat waves are occurring more frequently, to the extent where many people can't even venture outdoors for more than a few minutes unless they're slathered from head to toe in sun-blocking creams.  In July it can be hotter in Canada than it is in Florida.  Nights are no longer quiet because everyone has their air conditioners running.  The fireflies have all but vanished, as have many birds that once graced our yard.

So many people cry out "Climate change is a hoax!"  However it's clear that something is happening.  The seasons that we knew as children no longer exist.  Weather patterns are becoming less predictable.  The wildlife that we enjoyed is disappearing.

Too many governments seem hell-bent on destroying precious resources in the name of progress, and at the same time denying that what they do has an effect on the climate.  As I write this, the rain forests of Brazil are burning because the country's president authorized it for development.  The United States government has removed environmental protections on national parks for fossil fuel exploitation.  Meanwhile several Caribbean islands have been flattened by hurricanes in recent years: storms made more powerful by rising sea temperatures.  Island countries in the Pacific are slowly being eroded by higher than normal tides.

This is why young people are angry.  This is why people are marching in the streets and demanding that governments live up to their climate promises.  The longer we wait, the less of the earth we know will survive long term.

It's so sad that many people don't seem to care.  "We'll adapt," they say.  Yes, we can adapt.  Humans are the most adaptable species on the planet; that's how we became so successful.  But it'll cost much more in money, effort, and lives to do so later rather than take preventative measures now.  And we won't have anywhere near the ecological diversity.  That would be a tragedy.

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