Amusing Musings: Earth, wind and fire in concert spell disaster
Although the band Earth, Wind, & Fire made their own records with songs like “September” ranking No. 8 on Billboard’s Hot Top 100 chart in 1978, July 2021 will go down in the history books as the hottest month on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. July also reigns supreme for rainiest month in many regions of the U.S., including Massachusetts, according to NOAA’s National Climate Report. The band derived its name from nature: Greek philosophy postulated that the universe was made up of four elements: earth, air (wind), fire, and water.
Speaking of Greeks, things really heated up at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which just wrapped up in Tokyo, Japan, having been postponed to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic — which we are not out of yet. And, due to climate change, some of the athletes had to perform their elements in extreme elements. Some track and field competitors had to compete in their heats in sweltering heat approaching 100 degrees.
According to the Climate Change Report issued Aug. 9 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists assembled by the United Nations, we are destroying Mother Earth with earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires — and other extreme weather such as floods and droughts, etc. Humans have raised the temperature two degrees Fahrenheit since the end of the 19th century — mostly through greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil. Much of the warming occurred in the past half century with the last seven years being the warmest. This summer has really turned up the heat: Death Valley, CA, hit 130 degrees July 9. Scorching heat waves have killed hundreds of people in the U.S. and Canada; floods have overwhelmed China and Germany; and wildfires have scorched Greece, Siberia and Turkey.
We need to make a sea change, a profound or notable transformation. The global mean sea level has risen eight to nine inches since 1880, when scientists officially started recording global climate data, a third of that in the past 25 years. The increased water level is mainly due to water melting from glaciers and ice sheets and the thermal expansion of sea water as it becomes warmer. In fact, the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica are melting six times faster than in the 1990s. Even if countries start drastically reducing their emissions today, total global warming will probably still raise temps by another two degrees Fahrenheit over the next two decades. And, natural disasters will continue to proliferate.
The Dixie fire in California, the state’s second largest fire to date, decimated the entire town of Greenville. This town that was established during the Gold Rush and survived a fire in 1880 was no match for Dixie, which has so far blackened 322,000 acres. Wildfires have burned one million acres so far in California, well before October’s peak, and this year is on track to surpass 2020’s awful statistics. Winds can range between 25 and 50 miles per hour, spreading the fires farther faster — like, well, wildfire.
According to NOAA, about half of the contiguous U.S. are affected by drought, which certainly hampers fire extinguishing efforts. And the situation is mirrored worldwide. We need to conserve water. The federal government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time. The Hoover Dam has been storing Colorado River water since 1935. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs, are each at about one-third capacity. Drought is currently affecting 95% of the West.
An earthquake that registered a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale just devastated Haiti, and the death toll sits at 2,000 and rising with 10,000 injured. On the heels of that disaster, the incongruously named Tropical Storm Grace blew into town to add insult to injury.
Let’s not forget that other deadly storm surge assaulting the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, with Louisiana Alabama, and Mississippi in between: COVID-19 and its virulent Delta variant are attacking children just as they go back to school. Worse yet, these foolish governors are swimming against the tide by prohibiting life-saving measures such as vaccination and mask mandates in schools where there are vulnerable children who cannot yet be vaccinated, even threatening to withhold the pay of school personnel who implement these safety measures.
Another force to be reckoned with is thrice nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Time Magazine Person of the Year, Swedish climate activist teen Greta Thunberg, who warns, “Humanity is now standing at a crossroads. We must now decide which path we want to take. How do we want the future living conditions for all living species to be like?”
Love your Mother … Earth. Take good care of her, and she’ll take good care of you.
Julie Weil lives in Sharon and can be reached at jweil@weilfield.com.