Author: Gandalf GreyGandalf Grey Date: Aug 3, 2006 09:02
Eugene Linden: 'The gathering apocalypse'
As the weather gradually unmoors from its normal patterns, at some point
we'll have no choice but to realize that global warming is upon us.
Eugene Linden, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
I've written a good deal about global warming over the years, but like most
people, I still have a hard time envisioning how we will know when the
apocalypse arrives. Nobody will ring a bell to announce that a
climate-change event has begun, and it's easy to ignore the signals that
climate is changing. After all, we've always had extreme weather, and it's
possible that what signifies the point of no return will not be in the realm
of weather anyway but rather a derivative effect such as a financial crisis
or crop failure.
That's not to say that some future dramatic event such as the Greenland ice
sheet sliding into the ocean won't happen, but it's more likely that global
warming will creep up on us as the weather gradually unmoors from its normal
patterns. Single events will be explained away. But at some point, the
frequency, severity and ubiquity of the unusual weather will produce a sense
of foreboding, a sense that something is happening beyond our control.
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