Snowstorm!

Snowstorm!

Another incredible storm has passed and it was a whopper! So much snow. Our part of South Jersey lucked out. We had just a few inches, which quickly melted as the temperature warmed. But that wasn’t the norm. Long Island was hit hard, again, with 2-3 feet of snow in many towns, not a welcome occurrence after Hurricane Sandy. Up further into Connecticut, the storm laid down even more snow, forty inches in Hamden and close to that in Milford. Many towns in Massachusetts had about two feet, though several counties had more than that.

Our daughter-in-law took this photo looking through the screen at the beginning of the snowstorm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before the cars were completely covered and the accumulation had risen to over two-feet high. By the end of the day all that was seen were white lumps hunching up by the no longer visible curbs.

So what do we make of this Blizzard Nemo, as it is being called? Is it a freak happenstance or part of a pattern? And what about the frequency of recent tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, and flooding, and the increase of our global temperature by about a degree, which is no small amount?

I know there are people who call global warming a sham but the evidence is proving otherwise. It is not a subject that can be cozily determined by political preference. Photos show the glaciers are in retreat. Statistics point up the numbers of record-breaking storms that have been battering the earth in the past several years.

It seems like the right time to look at our environment in a responsible way. Let’s put aside selfish profiting and dogmatic inflexibility. We are at a point where we cannot undo much of what has happened but we needn’t continue our global disregard. We can cooperate for the benefit of all, and for respect for this magnificent planet we call home.

What does Global Warming mean?

http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/fcons/fcons1.asp

Polar Bears are in danger – but they are not the only ones:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/arctic-bears/%20the-melting-arctics-impact-on-itsecosystem/780/

Happy (early) Halloween

Mother Nature got an early start on Halloween this year. She didn’t wait for treats and went right to the tricks. An October snowstorm hit the northeast leaving millions without power and, ironically, forcing the cancellation of lots of Halloween festivities. It wasn’t so much of a surprise as the weather people predicted the storm but it still had a quality of the unbelievable about it. We talked about putting away our patio chairs for the season but felt no rush to do it. I was startled to hear the sleet tapping against the window and stayed glued to the spot as I watched the hard pellets of ice slowly turn into the quiet softness of snowflakes. It didn’t stop us from doing morning chores but we did postpone our afternoon activities in preference for sipping cocktails before our first cozy fire.

I can’t say that I blame Mother Nature for playing tricks. In fact, she seems to have been doing it a lot this year with heat waves that stayed around, rain during what is traditionally a dry part of the year, and lack of rain when the crops were begging for moisture. She certainly gets our attention this way. But then we have been playing tricks on her for decades. We pollute her air and much of her water. We continue to cut down the trees in her virgin forests and decrease the supply of oxygen to our planet. We play around with her crops, altering their genetics and changing our definition of food. Is she trying to tell us something in the only way she can? Will we listen?

And yet, Mother Nature still has a heart. Today, on Halloween proper, she sent a glorious, sunny day. It is just the right weather for little ones to come knocking on doors asking for treats. And when night arrives and the older goblins come around, there will only be a slight chill in the air, appropriate for October 31^st.

Check out the Oct.29^th storm: http://www.timesunion.com/photos/slideshow/October-East-Coast-snowstorm-31779.php