Solstice: Winter in Minnesota
Happy Solstice! That makes today the first day of winter, and the shortest day of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Basically, we get like 3 minutes of daylight. Okay, it's more like 7 hours, but it's still not very much.
Here I am in Minnesota on December 21st. I look out the window this morning and what do I see? Snow falling gently on the trees? Uh... nope. No, I looked out the window and saw raindrops falling on my porch. It's fucking raining as I type this!!
I've lived in and around Minnesota for most of my life and I've never seen anything like this. Last night I went for a walk and it was almost 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Un-fucking-believeable. When I was a kid we would get fuckloads of snow. It would snow all the time. We hardly ever had a brown Christmas. Usually, a white Thanksgiving was far more likely. But these last couple of years have been really weird. I mean, we had 50 degree weather for several days straight in February a few years ago. Normally, it's probably closer to 10 or 20 degrees. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
It wasn't so long ago that I was looking into ways to send myself into hibernation mode. I would love to be able to fall asleep in November and wake up some time in late March. That would be just fine with me (although I think I would have to get up to piss a couple times).
Now it turns out that bears in Spain aren't even bothering to hibernate any more. The weather just doesn't get that cold. The autumn was so warm in the Netherlands that many flowering plants could still be found in bloom in December.
This is beyond freak seasonal anomalies. This has been going on for years, and it's getting worse. Our climate is experiencing fundamental changes; it's being altered somehow, and the changes appear to be accelerating. I don't think we can afford to listen to the climate change skeptics anymore. If they're right, we will have wasted a few bucks. If they're wrong we may have doomed our civilization. Which is the prudent choice?
Don't ask me the lead the movement, though. I'm lovin' this shit. Man, it could be a hundred degrees all winter and that would be fine with me; I fucking hate the cold!! And I curse the foul 23.5 degree tilt of the earth's axis that gives us the seasons! Still, maybe we should, I dunno, cut back on the CO2 emissions until we figure out if the planet finally heating up is a good thing.
Here I am in Minnesota on December 21st. I look out the window this morning and what do I see? Snow falling gently on the trees? Uh... nope. No, I looked out the window and saw raindrops falling on my porch. It's fucking raining as I type this!!
I've lived in and around Minnesota for most of my life and I've never seen anything like this. Last night I went for a walk and it was almost 40 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Un-fucking-believeable. When I was a kid we would get fuckloads of snow. It would snow all the time. We hardly ever had a brown Christmas. Usually, a white Thanksgiving was far more likely. But these last couple of years have been really weird. I mean, we had 50 degree weather for several days straight in February a few years ago. Normally, it's probably closer to 10 or 20 degrees. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
It wasn't so long ago that I was looking into ways to send myself into hibernation mode. I would love to be able to fall asleep in November and wake up some time in late March. That would be just fine with me (although I think I would have to get up to piss a couple times).Now it turns out that bears in Spain aren't even bothering to hibernate any more. The weather just doesn't get that cold. The autumn was so warm in the Netherlands that many flowering plants could still be found in bloom in December.
This is beyond freak seasonal anomalies. This has been going on for years, and it's getting worse. Our climate is experiencing fundamental changes; it's being altered somehow, and the changes appear to be accelerating. I don't think we can afford to listen to the climate change skeptics anymore. If they're right, we will have wasted a few bucks. If they're wrong we may have doomed our civilization. Which is the prudent choice?
Don't ask me the lead the movement, though. I'm lovin' this shit. Man, it could be a hundred degrees all winter and that would be fine with me; I fucking hate the cold!! And I curse the foul 23.5 degree tilt of the earth's axis that gives us the seasons! Still, maybe we should, I dunno, cut back on the CO2 emissions until we figure out if the planet finally heating up is a good thing.
Labels: environment, global warming, Minnesota, science
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6 sick little monkeys said:
Glad you like it.
I take the GAIA hypothesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_theory_(science one step further. The earth recoils at our hatred violence and evil more than at the the abuse of nature. It's going to get a lot worse on planet earth - because we are not changing any.
Having just written about the fact that it's raining, the universe decided to make me a liar by freezing the rain. So yeah, it's snowing now, even though my thermometer is reading about 36 degrees.
wilsonz: I like the Gaia Theory -- I think it's a good way of looking at things. Humans are basically parasites on a host, and Mother Earth has ways of getting rid of us. Here's that link again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_theory_(science)
and now the freezing rain turned to snow. something is definitely wrong. but like you, i don't mind a mild winter.
On the west coast here, I've been flooded, and swept away by the wind 3 times in one month. We NEVER have wind in Vancouver. It was so bad that there were trees 500+ years and older being ripped out of the ground by the dozens. We still have places on the coast that are without power at 23 days and counting. I think the global warming is not a good thing for this part of the continent.
Wow - you really feel strongly about this subject don't you? Take it easy - no need to get all wound up...
uh, anon., i think you've missed the point completely. The fear that many people have is that this IS something we need to get wound up about. If we're right about global warming it could be disasterous for us and the planet.
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