In My Lifetime

I haven't lived for very long yet. 19 years is not a long time, particularly on a planetary scale. But in my lifetime, I have already seen massive and destructive changes in the earth's climate. And that's a little scary to me. 


In my lifetime, I have seen a change that maybe other people haven't noticed yet. But five or six years ago, people were talking about the possibility of global climate change, if we continue on our current path. Climate change was a possibility. But we didn't change our behavior. Actually, we did change our behavior- we used even more fossil fuels. We consumed more. We ignored the "inconvenient truth." 


Now, the rhetoric talks more about avoiding the "worst effects of climate change," "irreversible climate change," "catastrophic climate change." That subtle change in language means something. It means that climate change has arrived. 


This year the world has had to suffer through more destructive weather events than anyone can remember from any other year. Joe Romm posted today an article in Climate Progress : http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/07/239084/wildfires-floods-masters/


Quoted in his article are scientists:


Dr. Jeff Masters, Meteorologist: "We have never seen a year like this before." 


Katharine Hayhoe, Climate scientist: "We’re also seeing shifts in our weather patterns and circulation patterns. So, some places that are already quite dry are getting dryer. Other places that are already quite wet are getting wetter."


It is already happening... we're starting to see shards of the dark future people began predicting decades ago. I just wonder how bad it's going to get before people realize that a real overhaul is in order. Will it be when refugees need to find a home in your country? What about when a friend's farm goes under because of droughts? How about the disappearance of a species from your favorite hiking spot? 


Do we really have to wait for it to get even further? Where is our foresight? For that matter, where is our hindsight?