Changes

What odd animals we are. We are faced with a new federal report that predicts global warming could have serious consequences for how Americans live and work. Yet some of us want to argue the point that the warming isn't an act of man. Most believe it is, but even if it weren't true, the fact remains that the earth is getting warmer and we are seeing the results of that warming. So what are they arguing about? Manmade or natural, it's getting warmer and something needs to be done. The deniers are simply wacko's.

And, being the odd animals that we are, we really don't want to hear about what is going to happen in the future. Most reports that we hear about are focused on the long range; what will happen in 50 to 100 years from now. If you really want our attention, you need to tell us what's going to happen next week, next month and next year. And then it has to happen if we are to believe. We need to look at a yardstick, planted in the ocean, and see the water rising, inch by inch. Telling us that it will rise doesn't seem to work.

Being an elder, I have my own imperfect yardstick; my memory. And, despite the failings of memory, I can tell you that I live in a different climate model than the one I grew up in. And the places we once lived are now different; Lassen County doesn't have the winters that held on through a good eight months of the year anymore. The woodstove was fired up in September and shutdown again in June. Even here, on the Planet Orland, I can sense a change…and we've only lived here five years.

And along with the climate, other parts of the environment have changed as well. The fish are fewer and the deer less abundant. Where did the dove go? Where will we go?