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December 27, 2007
One More Way Global Warming Screws Everything Up
Yesterday I tried to go somewhere--Chicago, to be exact. I have this really great trip planned that includes visiting an old friend I haven't seen in years, going to dinner with a few new friends I haven't seen in months, hanging with Saviour Onassis and his new man, hitting some museums, etc.
But I was denied, and the weather was the problem. Oh, it was lovely where I was and it was lovely in Chicago. The problem was Detroit. And Detroit was not, as you might suspect if you don't live in this part of the globe, hit by a blizzard. No, it was hit by warm weather, and that led to fog.
It had snowed recently, you see, and then it warmed way up, and all that snow started to melt, and turned into dense vapor over night, and left a thick fog the next morning. It took forever to burn off, and countless flights in and out of Detroit were canceled.
I don't know if that's the same phenomenon that triggered the dense fogs around London that all caused so many flights to be canceled, but it's something that's going to happen more often. And everyone--almost everyone--can see in their own lives negative consequences of global warming. Even my family full of Mormon Republicans, those exemplars of denial, those trained from birth to make choices with devastating long-term consequences, can see that we've really screwed things up and have to make some changes--or rather, someone else has to make some changes. China, India--what do those people need cars for? They do so well with bikes and rickshaws! Who told them they could desire, manufacture, sell, buy and drive cars? It's THEIR fault.
I realize, of course, there's a little irony in complaining about the effects of global warming on air travel, and one of the few consolations I found was that there were that many fewer airplanes flying around the sky yesterday, that people got squeezed onto already full flights so that every last seat was taken. I don't expect anyone--including me--to stop living their lives in the world that exists and go build a cabin on the bank of some pond, because for one thing, there aren't ponds enough to accommodate all of us. But doing what you can to minimize or offset your production of CO2 and other gross gases on a day-to-day basis; voting (it's almost 2008!) for leaders (as opposed to the spawn of satan currently in the white house) who really will do something about global warming; these are things we MUST do so that we can, from time to time as necessary, get on a plane, and have reasonable expectations that we'll get where we want to go.
I'm headed back to the airport later today, and I am trying to be hopeful that I'll get where I'm going. DTW is open and flights are moving in and out of it, but I use a small regional airport and flights in and out of here are still backed up. So we'll see.
Posted by Holly at December 27, 2007 10:15 AM