A brief addendum to my recent posting about the burning of the world, and the role that the political elite in the U.S. has played in blocking effective attempts to deal with global warming:
Today, my city, Little Rock, had a high of over 90F for the 116th day in 2010. That beats our all-time record for days of 90+ temperatures in a year.
At the same time that our temperatures have been broiling for months now, we've been without anywhere nearly adequate rainfall, and as fall begins (but who'd know, with temperatures over 90?), it's bone dry here.
But I sometimes wonder if anyone is noticing this fact and what it portends for the future.
All over the city, trees and shrubs have died this summer, and I suspect that by next spring, we'll find we've lost even more trees. In my neighborhood, the neighborhood association has had grants for a number of years to plant trees along streets, including a beautiful row of crepe myrtles along one of the main boulevards into the neighborhood.
Many of the younger trees in this row of crepe myrtles are clearly near death if not already dead. It takes a lot of heat and a lot of drought to kill a crepe myrtle. Friends of mine who have lived in north Africa tell me they thrive well in the heat and aridity of that region.
It's frightening to see what's becoming of our planet, and very quickly. And it's frightening to witness the apathy of many of us as this happens.
At the same time that our temperatures have been broiling for months now, we've been without anywhere nearly adequate rainfall, and as fall begins (but who'd know, with temperatures over 90?), it's bone dry here.
But I sometimes wonder if anyone is noticing this fact and what it portends for the future.
All over the city, trees and shrubs have died this summer, and I suspect that by next spring, we'll find we've lost even more trees. In my neighborhood, the neighborhood association has had grants for a number of years to plant trees along streets, including a beautiful row of crepe myrtles along one of the main boulevards into the neighborhood.
Many of the younger trees in this row of crepe myrtles are clearly near death if not already dead. It takes a lot of heat and a lot of drought to kill a crepe myrtle. Friends of mine who have lived in north Africa tell me they thrive well in the heat and aridity of that region.
It's frightening to see what's becoming of our planet, and very quickly. And it's frightening to witness the apathy of many of us as this happens.
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