Northeastern Ohio: Woke up this morning and saw that the newly arrived fall season arrived with a bang. It felled the majority of leaves in my wooded paradise and left a blah, lingering, cold, rainy, landscape. Usually, autumn, or fall, as it’s mainly called is a slow process and a beautiful one at that. The sun beads down on changing colored leaves and sometimes the views are awesome. Not so this year . . . I guess.
Climate change is certainly occurring in my neck-of-the woods. Summers have been unusually hot and muggy. Foliage has turned to downright tropical looking and if you know anything about Northeast Ohio, it’s anything but tropical.
I’ve had this huge shrub in my yard for years and every season it sheds its old foliage right after winter and re-blooms shortly thereafter. This year it never completely lost its old stuff and the new blossoms just grew around it. Seems that the last harsh and long winter lasted so long that the plant lost its bearings. I can relate to losing bearings because I’ve lost mine more than a time or two, so I’m not completely angry at my expensive shrub going a little bonkers.
Nevertheless, changes are easy to see for me. I know absolutely nothing about weather, but I can see with my own eyes and I can remember the past. Things are different. Weather is changing and it’s a bit concerning.
Some say that it’s cyclical and it will get back to normal. Some say it’s manmade and we better make changes with the chemicals we’re spewing out before it’s too late. I even heard that the vast amount of cows on the planet are passing so much gas that those chemicals create climate change. Cow farts causing climate change! Okay…..
I have no clue as to what’s occurring with our climate. Sides have formed on the issue though. Left leaning folks siding with the man-made cause and many right leaning on the cyclical causation. How in the world does climate change become politicized? Do people not realize that turning things into political or opposite group settings does little to solve problems?
Taking ideological or political sides on many issues only makes it take longer to solve them. People draw lines in the sand and want to fight, demean and get their way out because they KNOW better. They just have to have it right! Schoolyard, kids’ stuff.
I’ll use the term that the recently deceased and arguably most colorful American politicians in history, James Traficant, used often on the House floor. When he was shocked, amazed and puzzled about the crazy things politicians did or politics allowed, he’d say: “Beam me up Scotty!” A great term, kind of like shaking our heads or slapping ourselves in the forehead. Shock and amazement!
Hopefully, American leaders, world leaders and us, (regular people) can rationally approach issues such as the leaves falling way too soon in my yard and make sure we do the best for our planet.
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