Cape Karen
My goodness, here it is April 9th, and it was only 22ยบ this morning! My poor crepe myrtle tree is all shriveled-up now from the freeze - it's formerly budding green leaves are all brown and curled-up, looking like pieces of rotten cabbage hanging from the branches. Luckily, I haven't planted any new flowers in my garden beds this year. We had snowstorms in Ohio, and below freezing temperatures in Tennessee - on Easter! What's with that?
Is this cold Spring weather from climate change? Maybe we're beginning to see the effects of global warming? That might sound like a contradiction, where the temperature is below freezing in April in the South, but it could be linked to a climate that is becoming more and more bizarre. The long-term effects of trillions of tons of CO2 being spewed into our atmosphere, decade after decade, may not be something that can be corrected. We might have already done ourselves in without realizing it.
If I were a high school student today, I would be focusing my studies on science. I think we're going to need a lot of scientific discoveries to ward-off future damage, and to try and correct the damage that has already been done. They're talking now about building more nuclear energy plants around the country, like France did in the 70's, as a clean energy source. France was smart and did it right... 90% of all their energy now comes from nuclear power. Will we one day follow their example? Will we do it right? Or will we take shortcuts, be careless, and end up like Chernobyl?
I've been watching the series on Discovery on Sunday nights called "Planet Earth," and the earth truly is so very beautiful. (If you don't have access to cable television, then get the DVD. Such amazing photography! To think that we've been messing around with the delicate balance of life on our planet, much of it to feed our greed and satisfy our lust for "things," is so sad.
Will we be able to change our ways? Will we ward-off global disaster? Or will we just ignore the alarm bells and leave it up to others to clean up the mess? Let's face it, our grandchildren will be the ones who'll be living with the consequences of our choices regarding these environmental matters.
So study hard, children of the world - your beautiful Blue Planet may need you.