ANDERSON, Ind. —
There’s nothing like a mild winter to bring out the members of our society whose agenda includes the propagation of the fear of global warming.
And with the possible exception of this past weekend, we have enjoyed as mild a winter as the Hoosier state has seen in years. The temperature has yet to hit zero. And we understand that as of a couple weeks ago Midland, Texas, had recorded as much snow on the ground this year as either Minneapolis or Chicago. The activities surrounding the Super Bowl in Indianapolis took place in weather that would put Miami or New Orleans to shame.
I and many of my friends have enjoyed the balmy temperatures immensely; the older you get, the less appealing snowy weather seems to be. Of course, many of my friends aren’t around now — they headed for Florida, where they have been experiencing temperatures maybe 20 degrees warmer than Anderson. Wow.
Then one of my younger, more environmentally-conscious friends Facebooked that she was having trouble enjoying the warm temperatures because of the threat of global warming.
Obviously she doesn’t live in Alaska, where they’ve had record amounts of snowfall and some of the coldest temperatures on the planet. Nor in Seattle, which was totally unprepared for the snowfall it received in late January. Or Europe and parts of Asia, which likewise experienced more snow than usual. The vagaries of the jet stream that spared us have dumped on other parts of the Northern Hemisphere in a big way.
That same jet stream, of course, was a bit less kind to the U.S. of A. last year. At one point during the winter, every state (including Hawaii) except Florida had snow on the ground.
Activists have assured us that global warming is a reality; some scientists (how many have an agenda I don’t know) have assured us it is so. Maybe it is. It’s what they say is causing it that raises the uproar.
According to the activists, the use of fossil fuels has caused a buildup of stuff in the atmosphere that is breaking down the ozone layer. And it is causing temperatures around the world to rise, which they say threatens the livability of the planet.
The ozone hole, it is agreed, is largest over the Antarctic continent. Which makes some of us wonder, since that’s where the fewest fossil fuels are burned.
The world’s weather, both now and all down through history, is a complicated mess. Earth has warmed and cooled and warmed again throughout its millions of years of existence. And the idea that temperatures seem to be on an uptick happens to coincide with the greatest advances in environmental heating and cooling in history. Is that all bad? I don’t know, but coincidentally, people are living longer now than ever.
So I’ll let other people worry about the mild winter. I’ll just bask in the relative comfort we’ve been experiencing.
Jim Bailey’s column appears on Wednesday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.
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