PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!

There may be wars and threats of wars in our greater world, odious politicians yapping for special interests across our continent, inner city crime and rising gas prices, zero growth jobs, jobs, jobs, hunger and cancer – but all of the above and more, is eclipsed by a threat to the foundation which makes it all possible. Our Mother Earth.

Such ills will be inconsequential if there is no longer a stage to play upon. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around, I know. This globe of ours, rotating ever and always through the heavens, seems so basic and primeval, eternal and vast, that it only stands to reason that it must be immutable, omnipotent and sacrosanct. But no. We leave it to the scientists to worry over and sometimes dispute the ones who do, but more and more the evidence is alarming and clear.

I got to thinking more seriously about our planet this morning as I read the weather report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Paul Douglas has been my go-to guy because he’s incredibly smart and writes a good “jokey” column each day and manages to frame the dull subject of climatology in most readable terms. How does he do it? And in spite of the old adage – “everyone wants to talk about the weather, but no one wants to do anything about it” – I get the feeling that Paul is asking us to wake up before it’s too late.

Here’s what he had to say:

“A speechless meteorologist? Oxymoron. I’m watching tornado coverage on CNN, scanning the SPC web site – 98 tornadoes on Friday. Unusual, even for late April. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Mother Nature is having a loud, violent nervous breakdown. America’s weather has always been severe, but this is awe-inspiring and very sad. The Symphony of Seasons is playing wildly out of tune; a Beethoven concerto with a rap-funk beat. Suddenly the weather maps make no sense. Mile-wide tornadoes, epic floods, drought; flowers already in bloom in New England? We’ll see 50 by Tuesday; the GFS hints at 70 by mid-March. We seemed to have skipped a month. Or two. A warmer atmosphere holds more water, more fuel for storms. Uh oh, I feel a climate change lecture coming on. Spare us a Sunday sermon. Why remind us? Because this will be one of the three big stories of the 21^st century. Because someday your grandkids may come up and ask what you knew, when, and what you did about it. Outbreaks of bizarre weather are a symptom – our atmosphere is running a fever. IF YOU’RE NOT AT ALL CONCERNED, YOU’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION.”