Suspecting That The Climate Is Changing

QUICK QUESTION: where is autumn? For those of you who through adherence to a rigorous indoor office schedule might not have noticed, its mid October and autumn has not yet begun. In my neck of the woods, the trees, deciduous, which once upon a time began changing colors in early October with regularity, have not yet begun to become red, orange, and yellow. Green they remain, or rather an off putrid green due to our mid August to the present drought, after an auspiciously rainy early summer. Drought is now the new normal in my neck of the woods. On some trees, leaves are falling, but falling green and dry. Then too, every day during October here on the 36th parallel the temperature has been close to ninety degrees, when formerly this time of year was characterized by folks in coats and sweaters. The same is evidently true throughout the country. Green trees, late fall colors, hot temperatures. Then, there's California, ablaze up north of San Francisco in regions which used to be wet and cool this time of year. Worst wild fires in the history of the state, they say. Drought in Europe, wild winds across the Asian steppes, huge hurricanes, of the once every thousand year variety, showing up in the south Atlantic with regularity. If one didn't know better, which is to say if one were not an arrogant American conservative, one might suspect that the climate is changing. You'll recall that most conservative republicans do not believe that global warming/climate change exists, but that if by some weird set of circumstances it does, it is entirely the product of natural, not human forces, and is the result of cyclical patterns beyond our control, nothing to be alarmed about. The best possible scenario is that the progressive world of science repairs the damage, reverses climate change with sustainable technologies, the world returns to a healthy state, and the conservatives say: "see, we told you so. Like we always said, there was never any problem in the first place." And more power to them, bless their little smug hearts. the conservatives who are the most certain that climate change is a liberal hoax are those who never attended college nor passed a chemistry, physics, or biology course, like say Rush Limbaugh.the less educated, the more certain. Typical human behavior, especially among conservative climate change deniers, who fear even the remotest possibility that humanity will be forced to make fundamental changes to its economic and political systems to save the species from itself. Let's repair the environment, then give republicans credit for it; they love being flattered.