Given the widespread and stubborn refusal by most Americans to accept the eventualities of climate change disaster and the more immediate peaking of global oil production, I have found myself wishing for clear signals from nature and the market that would bolster the arguments of myself and others who appreciate the implications of such things. My wish springs from the frustration I feel as I observe the national "discussion" and my desire for it to transcend the "discussion's" most moronic elements to something more urgent. Seeing as the people who make the "discussion" especially moronic are the very same people who seem to base their opinions about these two subjects on whether or not they personally experience hot or cold weather or high gas prices I have come to hope for events that will force the issue and change the "discussion". My modest summer wish list therefore is based on what I believe is needed to jar my thicker headed compatriots enough to get them to realize that which is a clearly demonstrated reality.
The first wish I have is that this summer will be so hot that multiple high temperature records across the continental United States are smashed to pieces. It should be hot enough to make most anyone very uncomfortable but not so hot to cause anyone to die. Many Americans alive today need to feel very uncomfortable; to feel hot, sweaty, and perturbed, coupled with a sense of dread as the unpleasantness of the heat seems to have no end. All Americans should feel as northerners do in January who long for the end of winter and respite from the cold. Autumn should be embraced the way spring is embraced after winter.
My second and final wish is for gasoline prices to pole vault $3.00 a gallon and perhaps land somewhere in the $3.30-50 range in early summer then stay there. You're likely to hear many voiced and/or muttered expletives referring to the excretory functions, the sexual organs or sexual activity, or using the lords name in vain, which means you should cover your children's ears when getting gasoline this summer if this wish of mine comes to pass.
These two wishes in fact have pretty good chances of coming true. Oblivious to the heat waves that struck the southern hemisphere during it's summer, the northern hemisphere saw some cold but generally unremarkable winter temperatures, over a thirty year average, due to the Arctic Oscillation having entered it's negative phase. The Arctic Oscillation is a normal occurrence that effects weather patterns in the northern hemisphere so should not be seen as evidence of global warming. However, arctic temperatures were anywhere from 9-13 degrees F above normal this winter, which is a lot, and should be seen as evidence of global warming. The result of all of this is that the northern hemisphere really got screwed out of a globally warmed winter because of the Arctic Oscillation and were left wondering about the reality of global warming.
As for the coming summer, the main driver of temperature will be El Nino. The Pacific Ocean entered the El Nino phase last fall and will probably make this summer very hot and wet. As of last November (I haven't looked recently) surface temperature readings in the Pacific were some of the highest ever recorded. The worrisome part about this is that the bigger and more destructive storms over the continent that accompany El Nino years will probably be a constant news feature. Not to make this a farmer's almanac or anything, I'd say that folks living in the middle of the continent and in the deep South should make sure the tornado shelter is ready to roll.
The price of gas is likely to go up because of the actions of refiners. Whether the price of oil goes up or not, the refiners are in serious need of profit. The $70-80 a barrel range for the price of oil doesn't seem to support the $2.50 or so per gallon gasoline that most Americans have been paying for the past several months. Or the $2.72 I saw earlier today. Another reason is that there is a gasoline glut in the market because demand in the U.S. has fallen so much. So refiners seem to be in a strange supply-demand situation. There is too much gas on the market, forcing prices down, but the price of oil is high. It should be interesting to see how people interpret this. Will they call the speculators before congress to explain themselves? Will they clamor for new refining capacity? Or will they see it as a new normal that Americans will have to adapt to? The lesson I would like for them to get is this: If Americans want to drill for more oil they will pay more for gas, and if they want cheap gas they will have to use less. That sums up the predicament we find ourselves in.
This summer, then, whenever you hear someone swearing through his teeth about high gas prices, turn to him or her and say "Hey, if you want cheap gas, then you gotta stop usin' it". It might help if you say it in your best Jeff Spicoli imitation to add insult to injury. Likewise, when temperatures have reached unbearable levels, track down you're favorite global warming denier and ask "how's that global cooling treating you?"
It's interesting how "general knowledge" gets filtered into the masses. For so long every expert was talking about the warming of the planet, but the actual effects of a warmer planet didn't seem to get through. The phrase that one expert finally used that I try to use is not global warming, but the weirding of the weather. If you look around the planet, does the weather seem any weirder to you? Wetter, hotter, dryer, record cold, record hot, snow in places that don't often have snow.
ReplyDeleteAnd, alas, perhaps it would take deaths to get everybody to actually get concerned.
It is OK to hope for hot weather, though I do especially appreciate your proviso that no one die because of it. But whether or not it actually is hot, I hope you'll continue, Sisyphus-like, to calmly make your points as you have been on this blog.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, as Camus observed, we are all doomed anyway, whether or not we make the necessary adjustments to our economy and lifestyle in time to turn a major catastrophe into a merely minor one. The question is how exactly we are to die, and what the absurdity of life demands. Camus concluded, and I agree, that it demands constant revolt, and that is what you are doing.
So Godspeed on that!