When it comes to the weather, the word “normal” is defunct. Normal is gone — and that is nothing to ignore
It is 48 degrees in Sioux Falls as I write this. It’s the middle of May and two days ago it was 94 degrees at the same time of day.
Both temps are wildly off the averages for May. Off normal.
We should probably stop using the word “normal.” Normal is defunct. Normal is gone. I guess we can still use it for nostalgic purposes. “Remember how normal it used to be when …?”
I’m writing about this subject again because you’re still not getting it. You, who are reading this right now. You’re still not getting it. You’re driving your fossil fuel burning car. I can’t really blame you for that.
But you’re not thinking about it. You’re seldom aware of it. You may or may not be trying to recycle your plastic, but you’re probably unaware that most of your effort is wasted since only about 10% of plastic actually IS recycled. Are you even aware that all plastic comes from fossil fuels? And most of that ends up being burned, not recycled, just like the fossil fuels in your car?
We are burning up our past and destroying our future by doing it. Someone has to keep reminding us. Speaking of the Climate Crisis is anathema to our local meteorologists. Our news outlets, which should be highlighting this every day, still hardly speak of it.
We, as a people, as a body politic, have known since 1979 (actually earlier), by the intensive research done by the oil companies themselves, that burning fossil fuels and the resultant release of carbon dioxide into our air is damaging to our environment. Jump ahead to 2025, 56 years later, and we've just burned more and released more CO2 in the past year than ever before.
Do you give a damn? Do YOU give a damn? We are committing mass suicide while we talk blithely about the new normal. At the same time, we're committing mass murder on Nature.
I hope you’re at least noticing that there is no normal anymore. I think you should think about it. I think you should stay in awareness of this.
I think you should be paying attention as to why wind power and solar power are still being questioned and slowed down in so many places. I think you should wonder why there are not by now charging stations at EVERY truck stop in America.
I think you need to figure all this out for yourself. Hardly anyone else is awake enough to help you. I am but one small voice. You hardly hear any other such.
You need to ask yourself why. It’s now 47 degrees. Feels like 40 degrees.
It’s May 16.
Van Carter of Sioux Falls is a retired broadcast journalist and environmentalist who published a green website for 15 years. This essay originally appeared on the Change Agents of South Dakota website.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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