It looks as though, for the time being at least, the freeze up is moderating a bit and travel conditions are returning to something like normal, but spring is a long way ahead and we could be in for another dose before winter finally lets up. The last couple of years we have experienced a more continental weather pattern with cold winters and hot,dry summers as opposed to our more usual oceanic mild, damp conditions. That is certainly not evidence on it's own for climate change but it might well be a symptom of such change. The majority of climate scientists now support the theory of a man made enhanced greenhouse effect that will have a profound influence on global weather systems. The real challenge is how we will respond to this change.
One of the things that makes us such an unusual species is our ability to adapt to such diverse environments. From the Arctic to the equator we have managed to eke a living for thousands of years and I'm sure that we will do so for a long time to come. Living with long term climate change will not be easy. Many social systems, and some parts of the world, may not be able to support the population levels that they do today but as a species we will cope. There may be much misery ahead but there may also be opportunities to create quite new ways of responding to nature and to each other. Personally I find the prospect quite exciting.
On a more mundane note, the freeze up actually did me a bit of a favour. For reasons that I was never entirely clear about, I was meant to go to the Compass Xmas Party. Her indoors tends to know people like that but, predicted by one old friend as being, "a lot of ex-Trots banging on about reforming the Labour Party", it was not an event that I was looking forward to. The freeze up provided the perfect excuse not to go. Every cloud etc.
HAPPY XMAS TO YOU ALL.
No comments:
Post a Comment