When I was in the army stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, the summer I was there was brutally hot. My drill sergeant always told us, "it's not the heat that gets you, it's the humility". Now I am sure that he had some hidden meaning in this but we always knew that it really WAS the heat that got us.
As I write this blog sitting in my air-conditioned office in Tulsa, the temperature outside is 97 degrees. This is pretty hot no matter where you live but the difficult part is that it is 10:15 AM. The forecast highs are: 111, 109, 109, 109, 108, and 106. Even for Oklahoma in the heart of the summer, these are about 15 degrees above normal. My lawn is the color of old hay as I’ve given up trying to keep it green. My air conditioning bill each month is close to what I paid for a used car in my youth. My dogs refuse to go outdoors except under the most urgent of bodily needs because their water is too hot to drink (though the squirrels in the yard brave it). My once-vibrant trees resemble weeping willows from the lack of rain. I see the birds in our shade trees panting!
So what the heck is going on? My promise at the outset of this blog series was that it would not be a political disquisition. It seems that our country is particularly polarized right now and although I am absolutely certain that my viewpoints are all 100% accurate and everyone who disagrees with me is absolutely wrong, my promise not to be political keeps me alive and safe!
I live in the reddest state in the country (and I am not talking about sunburn either). As such, there is a general tendency to disagree with things green. One of our United States Senators, James Inhofe, has written a book, “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future”. Among relevant scientific evidence he offers this:
“…Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous”.
Now, I don’t intend to criticize Senator Inhofe for his religious views. I can say that his quotation from Genesis has nothing to do with climate change. Some things are a matter of faith, others an issue for science. We human beings ARE able to change the climate and most everything else we get our hands on and not everyone is beholden to God for permission to do so.
No doubt you see where my heart lies. Spoiler alert: I am NOT a climatologist. I am not a scientist. This means I have to take a stand based on what I think the best evidence shows. Not everyone believes in climate change, not even climatologists. My philosophy when these types of issues come along is to go with the preponderance of the evidence. From what I’ve seen, some 97% of climatologists feel that climate change is real and that’s good enough for me. I think there are signs that even diehard climate change deniers are coming around. There was an interesting article by a recent convert to this view and I include it here for your pleasure.
Conversion of a climate change skeptic
Given the strong probability that climate change/global warming is real, what do we do about it? Hey, don’t ask me. I already told you I’m not a scientist!
My saying for this week’s blog has to do with the weather (surprise!).
"It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain”. ~Mark Twain, American Humorist and author (1835-1910)
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