#22: dog days of summer
The weather forecast for DC metropolitan area, for today and the next two days: 
Siberia doesn't look too foreboding anymore, now does it? If not that far, then at least there's got to be a trip to the beach. One look at the picture and I needed no more convincing.
Who knows how weather patterns will be in the years and decades ahead. But if this is any precursor to the dog days of summer, it does not look appealing. A couple of minutes outdoors burns even my third-world skin. With not a speck of cloud anywhere in sight, the sun really does scorch. The tourists are skipping town, the wild animals aren't to be seen around, the leaves on the trees are drooping down, and the grass is burnt out brown. What a sorry sight.
Two days ago The Washington Post ran an article on receding glaciers around the world, and particularly the Quelccaya glacier in Peru – and its implication for water resources – for human habitation, the flora and fauna. Another article had a simple but stark message: "Better Get Used to Killer Heat Waves". What a sobering thought. Compound that with power outages and a meltdown of infrastructure. "Houston, we have a problem".
The Administration is still not convinced (a farcial self-denial against all scientific facts) that global warming is real. "You don't have to fix what isn't broken". And any realistic chance of doing anything worthwhile keeps slipping away. Even the Guv'nator is going his own way – signing a climate pact with Tony Blair on global greenhouse gas emissions. Maybe we'll see more of such activism from citizens, corporate entities, and local governments that bypasses official obduracy.
Max 110 and Min 82. Humid but less than 20% chance of precipitation. Heat warning is in effect from dawn to dusk. Air quality is unhealthy.
Siberia doesn't look too foreboding anymore, now does it? If not that far, then at least there's got to be a trip to the beach. One look at the picture and I needed no more convincing.Who knows how weather patterns will be in the years and decades ahead. But if this is any precursor to the dog days of summer, it does not look appealing. A couple of minutes outdoors burns even my third-world skin. With not a speck of cloud anywhere in sight, the sun really does scorch. The tourists are skipping town, the wild animals aren't to be seen around, the leaves on the trees are drooping down, and the grass is burnt out brown. What a sorry sight.
Two days ago The Washington Post ran an article on receding glaciers around the world, and particularly the Quelccaya glacier in Peru – and its implication for water resources – for human habitation, the flora and fauna. Another article had a simple but stark message: "Better Get Used to Killer Heat Waves". What a sobering thought. Compound that with power outages and a meltdown of infrastructure. "Houston, we have a problem".
The Administration is still not convinced (a farcial self-denial against all scientific facts) that global warming is real. "You don't have to fix what isn't broken". And any realistic chance of doing anything worthwhile keeps slipping away. Even the Guv'nator is going his own way – signing a climate pact with Tony Blair on global greenhouse gas emissions. Maybe we'll see more of such activism from citizens, corporate entities, and local governments that bypasses official obduracy.
1 Comments:
Ah(a long exhale causing global temperatures to increase 2 degrees) so many things that must be said and no possible way to say them. Thank you for your very gracious and eloquent ode to MLI. While we did climb the wall, there are still more to climb in the future. Hopefully, however, no one will have to be climbing any walls in the DC heat. :-) Hope all is well.
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