March 21, 2012

It's Spring!

For a week, those cherry blossoms and magnolias and birdies and bugs annoyed me.  I mean, it was still winter!  Last year, the magnolias didn't struggle out till May.  The weeping cherry begged off entirely.

I marvel at their beauty from under my hard hat.  I mean, with climate change, nothing is predictable.  12" of snow might plop out of the sky all at once and at any moment.

I'm not alone.  I hear from people I'd never expect would say anything like it, "Things are beautiful, and I'm uneasy."  I know what they mean.

A few years ago, when the term was "global warming", people put signs out in record snowfalls pointing out that the snow seemed to be proof against it.

Last year, when a record number of tornadoes killed a record number of people, I remember The Weather Channel staff making very guarded comments about climate change as a reason this might be happening.

Maybe it is the experience of unusual weather in the aggregate that accounts for the caution I am hearing from others.  What is important is that the tension is there, now.  This could be a teachable moment.  People, taking a collective breath, say, "It's too quiet around here.  What's up?"  Interesting that it took a flower to bring the thing to our attention.  There's still time.