*Disclaimer: I am not a trained journalist although I spent some time at University to deal with Communication Science. Seriously researched articles or maybe even posts should come with sources and maybe footnotes. Unfortunately, my mind is pretty slow and I have a busy schedule. Until I get around to writing a post I usually don’t remember in what newspaper, channel or website I have seen or read something and therefore it’s just not possible for me to always include references. You have my promise though that I’m not making things up!*
During those two really cold weeks in January apparently a lot of people doubted whether global warming and climate change really is taking place or not. There were articles in newspaper as well, maybe not so surprising given the amount of snow that fell in Northern Europe.
Does that mean global warming is off? Personally, I don’t think so. Climate change and global may lead to higher average temperature and that may be only a couple of degrees Celsius but weather patterns will get more complicated and extreme. I wouldn’t be surprised if that cold weather front was just a glimpse of what’s to come which will have a heavy impact on agriculture in Europe. Whereas humans may be quick to adapt, plants will have a much harder time. Flowers and trees blooming in March (instead of May or June) may not sound drastic if March is followed by an extremely cold April, a lot of insects and blossoms will die, resulting in heavy loss. And if the summers keep getting warmer…
To me, winter should be cold from December to February. That’s what winter is all about. If you don’t like the cold, move somewhere else but don’t prey for more global warming. Humanity is already f***ed enough, the changes are just too faint yet to count as proof but our grand-grand-children will not be able to believe how reluctant measures were taken up. Oh, that is, if we’ll ever make it to have later generations who can afford to luxury of doing research instead of fighting for survival.
BTW, did you hear about the fish swarms coming back around the coast of Somalia? The pirates are scaring off illegal trawlers and the fish population who were on the brink of extinction are slowly catching up and coming back. I’m not rooting for those pirates at all but a good side-effect is always welcome.