THE WEATHER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY………
We hear weather announcements in every newscast, always preceded by a commercial. Nothing new in that. Frankly we are bombarded with news trivia, while the real news, something that will lead to a global catastrophe is rarely mentioned, because it will upset “The Consumer”.
So, yes, the weather!
My farmer-grandfather (1870-1940) had no access to weather forecasts: he relied on his innate experiences, his fine-tuned historic knowledge, and prayer. Yes, prayer, because my ancestors knew that in the end, we propose, God disposes.
Today is different: very different. The meteorological messages, which forewarn us of rain, sleet, snow, frost, sunshine, sometimes inaccurate, usually quite astute, come before our eyes or penetrate into our ears, in the form of a low pressure here or through the aftermath of a high pressure there. These may well be the rational explanations. What former generations read in the sky, in watching the sun, observing the wind direction and in the behavior of birds and other animals, has now been replaced with the latest in computer power. But why we have more weather extremes, is seldom mentioned.
The truth about the weather.
Public messages don’t want to broadcast the truth. Public companies can’t afford the truth. Advertisers hide the truth. And we? We too, hate to be faced with the truth, because it shakes our complacency, and makes us uncomfortable.
The Truth with Capital T, is that the weather is not brought by company such or corporation that, but it is brought to us by you and me: we are the bringers of the excessive rain that causes extreme floods; we are the culprits when drought hits the grain-growing fields, and causes inflation, and famine in Africa and South East Asia; we are to blame when hurricanes hit the coastal areas, and tornadoes demolish the trailer parks, and rip the roofs of churches and schools. We now make the weather, and consequently disasters multiply.
The Fortunate Few.
So far, we have been able to pay the extra in food dollars, as we spend only 10% of our income on basic necessities. We also can still afford to pay the ever-rising insurance premiums, and mortgage rates. After all, we have the political clout to influence the government officials to rebuild, until the deficits become too large, and the economy collapses, as it will before too long.
Then what?
Will AI tell us what to do, how to handle the weather extremes, how to live when virtual money shows its true face? Artificial Intelligence is well-named: it is nothing but computer-power magnified. It can only work with information already available, as it steals facts and figures wherever they float out there. AI is like a gigantic-prehistoric bird, with a brain too big for its own good.
In other words, there is nothing new under the sun, except there is: a new extreme of evil is at work here. The core of the problem – fossil fuel emissions – is well known and largely uncontested in the scientific community. We, humans, we are altering the climate by burning gas, oil, coal and trees. We started by denying that a climate emergency is happening, and that humans are the root cause. Now we are beginning to realize that our worldview or lifestyle will have to change, so we downplay the scale of the crisis, by putting all your faith in technological fixes. Jesus had a valid observation there: “can we rely on the devil to throw out the devil?” (Mark 3: 23). Will technology cure technology?
The side effects.
Already we see mental depression increasing as it becomes plain that we are overwhelmed by the extent of the crisis and realize that governments and corporations are not only spinning their wheels but often actively exacerbate the damage.
Fossil fuels aren’t the only source of carbon dioxide. The mega fires that have charred Canada, Europe and Chile last year are set to repeat themselves in an exponential fashion, adding even more CO2 into the atmosphere. Yet even there, the vicious cycle of human-caused climate change is easy to see: Many of those fires were made worse because of the warming that has already occurred.
The year ahead.
In one word: accelerating HEAT. It will speed up the arrival of super hurricanes, as the oceans have never been warmer. Heat will make forests more vulnerable, delivering a double whammy: less trees to absorb CO2, and more Green House Gases to speed up warming. I need not be a prophet to predict this to happen: just as smoking and alcohol addiction leads to premature death, so our addiction to car use and modern ‘conveniences’, leads to planetary death. Sudden release of Methane in the Arctic – see ARCTIC NEWS – will make true 2 Peter 3: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”
Yes, the weather is us!