Mark Twain

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Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Scorcher

It is a scorcher out there.

In keeping with my recent "looking back" posts - I just want to make a few unsettling observations.

Looking back ...
  • I think the weather generally has gotten hotter, colder, more bazaar, and more extreme in the last 15 years or so. When looking at the historical ebbs and flows of the earth we inhabit, these changes are not the most extreme in its history. But, since earth's geologic and meteorologic changes occur very, very slowly - over thousands and hundreds of thousands of years - it is a bit disconcerting to be aware of changes that span just 15 years!!
  • Red and Orange Air Quality Alerts are a relatively new phenomena - probably in the last 15 years or so. I don't remember having problems breathing during the heat of summer prior to the early 1990s. Maybe it is because I am 20 years older, but I doubt it. I don't remember TV and radio cautions being broad casted to the public telling the elderly and young children to stay in doors prior to the 1990s. I figure this isn't just about how my 64 year old body is reacting to the atmosphere.
  • I do not believe that any one scientific group is any more in the know than another group of experts on what is actually happening to the weather. I do believe that the scope of our human scientific knowledge on our earth and its atmosphere is infantile compared to what we have left to learn.
How much of this current situation is man-made and how much is part of a natural earth cycle of change is the subject of much public discussion. But I do know that the earth's cycles are not in tens of years ... tens of years are just micro seconds in the earth's clock. So something is different ...

Makes you wonder.

So lets hear from you. Which camp are you in?
  1. Mankind made this mess so man needs to fix it.
  2. The Earth is cycling through climate change. Us little peons need to stop being so full of ourselves and adjust to what Mother Nature has delivered.
  3. I think it is a mix of both.
  4. I have no idea. I just hope my air conditioner doesn't break.
  5. Other - explain yourself!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think we have defintely contributed and I am afraid that the changes will escalate in speed. I also hope may AC doesn't break.

Langley Cornwell said...

This is something to ponder. I think I'm in camp 3 but have leanings toward camp 4. Great post.

happyone said...

I think its a mixture of both and I too hope my AC keeps right on working.

DebD said...

I think its a mixture too, but mostly a cyclical thing. We just came out of an ice age in the middle ages... could be we're still creeping out. I think sun spot activity is a contributor to the recent weirdness we've been having....and I've also read that the lack of volcanic activity (because the ash creates a shield far up in the atmosphere) are also contributors to our more recent climate stuff. But, we humans certainly are not helping matters.

I do remember smog days and code red types days (don't remember if it was called that then) when I was in high-school in the early 80s (probably late 70's too)in the DC area. But my memory is sketchy. I've never been one for the heat and sun and this has gotten worse as I've gotten older. I've always been the person who wanted to move to Alaska. However, the thing that has changed for me is that I'm having a harder time with the cold. I'd love to move to the PNW, where's its more temperate and cloudy.

SharleneT said...

I think it's a combination. But, we really don't know what the earth's cycles are and will probably be dust by the time it changes enough for the world to notice. Definitely don't want my a/c to break down...

Retired Knitter said...

I think it is a combination as well.

g-girl said...

i, too, think it's a mixture but one heavy on the man made influences. whether or not we can fix it, who knows. but i have noticed the weirdness in weather and temperature too. it's kind of scary.