Climate Change and the Non Winter of 2012

Climate change occurs over a long period of time. No one can honestly say that one or two weather events means that the climate is changing.

We Ignore Signs of Climate Change at our Great Peril

However, enough evidence is now available to support mny scientists warnings over the past few years that climate change is occurring at a faster rate than even they projected two years ago. To weather watchers around the world it is obvious that storms are becoming stronger, in some regions floods are occurring more often, in other regions droughts are persisting, the ice caps are melting at unprecedented rates, hurricanes are intensifying, and generally weather has not been at all normal for the past ten years.

In the United States the Winter of 2012 was really a Non-Winter. In the month of January average temperatures across the nation were five degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal. In many regions, certainly the Southeast, flowers that normally bloom in April were blooming in February. Ski resorts in the Northeast and the West had a disastrous season as snow was scarce. In Arctic regions and in the Anarctic glaciers retreated at alarming rates.

In the Northeast if you are brave enough to walk in the woods you definitely need to check for ticks at the conclusion of your walk. The mild weather was beneficial to the survival and multiplication of many types of insects, some of them harmful like ticks and tree beetles. The dreaded Lyme disease, spread by ticks, is having a surge in the Northeast and I expect in other regions of the nation.

Does all this mean that climate change is occurring? While there are many climate change deniers still around, especially in the government and in large corporations that would be hurt by legislation designed to lower carbon emissions into the air, I believe within another 2 to 3 years even the most hard-core deniers will have to admit that climate change is occurring.

The frightening thing is that probably the earth has already reached a tipping point. Humans will have to adapt to weather conditions and a long-term climate that will be much less favorable to sustaining human life than that over the last 10,000 years. It is unlikely that governments and large corporations around the world will be effective in protecting their citizens and consumers.

The cost of reigning in carbon emissions would affect the bottom line of the businesses. That cost, whatever it may be, will likely look puny even a few years from now as seawaters raise, freshwater becomes increasingly scarce, entire forest are wiped out by insect infestation, diseases once limited to tropical areas spread into heavily populated temperate zones, and humans, especially the elderly, are unable to cope with higher temperatures.

The non-Winter of 2012 is about as clear a warning as mother nature ever gives. We ignore it at our great peril.