A cloudy, grumpy morning, way to warm following a record smashing weekend of heat. I’m told the day began with a marvelous sunrise.
Here and there trees are in full color but the dominant landscape now is mostly bare branches with a few fluttering leaves hanging on. The oaks, holding tight to their leaves, are taking their usual leisurely stroll towards winter which is great for the squirrels who need nesting material.
Over the weekend everyone was out in the 70F+ temperature; many people in tee shirts.Mind you we are speaking of the first week of November. It wasn’t that temperatures were above normal; they broke temperature records by as much as 15 degrees F! The warmth was both delicious and terrifying and I strongly suspect that for many people under thirty-five it was mostly the former.
To put this in perspective: a two degree deviation from a record is a LOT and three degrees used to be considered historic! Not surprisingly, the news media have been lackadaisical in their reporting of this monumental event, mostly focusing on “isn’t this an interesting aspect of climate change, one we can certainly enjoy”.
While it is a fact that the Northeast is warming much faster than most of the continental U.S., this extreme warming should be terrifying everyone. Instead, the great majority of folks seemingly just perceive it as a regional problem, if they pay attention at all. Of course, the misinformation machines are going full tilt as we hover on the edge of tomorrow’s mid-term elections and climate change (and a host of other immediate environmental and social problems), already receiving scant notice, is buried under mounds of garbage.
The issues on voters’ minds (young people seem to be staying away from the polls) are crime, the economy, immigration, and women’s and minority rights, all important but none existing in a vacuum. In fact, they all impact, and are impacted by, climate change, resource scarcity, and species decline. Yet neither party seems even remotely interested in speaking to this, maybe because the complexity defies presentation in sound bites, or maybe because politicians believe there is money to be made from catastrophe. No wonder young people are staying away from the polls!
This morning the President of the United Nations warned we are rapidly descending into a climate “hellscape.” We always have the collective choice to create Heaven on Earth or a Hellscape. Sadly, we appear to be making a host of decisions that lead inexorably towards the latter.
Dreaming the World 
Well stated: I fear for the attention to self rather than the community
Cynthia, me, too. All too familiar…..
Climate change is certainly the biggest threat we are all facing, no matter where we live. To this old timer, weather this warm in November feels downright freakish. But we did have appetizers with friends on their deck, and we stayed out until 7:00. Kind of proves your point, doesn’t it, about the warm weather being both delicious and terrifying.
Absolutely. We cringe even as we are enjoying the warmth. Given the expected fuel shortages and huge rice increases this winter, the heat
We’ve been soaking in the heat even as feel anxious about it. We’ve been enjoying the crickets but that is uncomfortable as well. We are blessed in that our lot and the adjacent ones all have plenty of cover for over-wintering insects and others.
That is good! We live on the edge of a forest where there is plenty of cover for creatures who crawl, fly, and creep.
It is incredibly difficult to find hope at present. The warm weather in your part of the USA is very strange. How odd people aren’t connecting the dots and relating the weather to climate change. Over here in eastern Australia months of heavy rain have suddenly given way to excessively hot weather but another ‘rain event’ is forecast for later in the week. Rain event seems to be the new way of describing flooding rains without mentioning the words climate change or floods. These are very strange times.
Suzanne, strange indeed. We are forecast to have flooding rain on Friday but being tidal plain we are used to it and the rain mostly overflows into the bay. Not so much in the mountains though….
Oh dear, the floods that occurring in so many places at present are very bad. I feel for the people of Pakistan.
I’ve been working on gardening projects in a t-shirt but the entire time I keep thinking how downright strange this whole thing is. Put me in the ‘terrified’ column.
Judy, we’ve been out and about and in the garden. We just today removed the screens and put in the glass on our porch. Creature comfort threatens to overwhelm common sense…. How many 75 degree days in a row now?
Hi Michael! I swear the day you visited my blog I had just thought about you and wondered how you are!! Sorry it took so long for me to come visit and say so. I hope that your world is full of love and possibility. It was so nice to connect again 🙂
Thanks, Lorrie! I love those synchronicities! We are well and surprisingly busy which has made blogging a bit of a challenge. Today we are recovering from the Holiday which was quite full.
I love them, too, Michael 🙂 I understand! I have been trying to be more present blogging…because when I am away and come back…I remember how much I love it…how much I love the connections I have made through the years!
It’s nice to chat…and wish you all good things!
Hurray for blogging friends – some of the very best!
😊🙏💜