You Don't Have to Be a Scientist to Know the Weather is a Changin'

It has been a hell of a hot summer in Texas. Today we broke our all time record of 70 days of over 100 degree temperatures. Our morning lows this summer were 85 degrees. We went beyond the occasional summer “heat advisory” to daily “heat warnings”. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where we have failed to meet EPA air quality standards since the 1980s, the ozone levels reach unhealthy levels. So if the heat doesn't kill you the ozone will.

The older I get, the more the Texas summers bother me. I ran necessary errands in the morning and then spent the rest of the day cocooning inside. When the day time high reached 108, it was even too hot for my daughter to go swimming (the asphalt around the pools would burn your feet and the water was like warm bathwater) or to the local amusement park. Needless to say, we spent a lot of the summer inside. Think about that, it is summer vacation, but it is too hot for children to play outside. We tried walking our dog at dusk, but the temperature was still 98, so we finally gave up.

Last week, as Tropical Storm Lee dropped over a foot of rain on Louisiana, it brought us a few days of cooler temperatures, but not a single drop of rain. Texas has received less than a 1/3 of its normal rainfall to date. The drought has drastically affected farmers and the cattle industry. The lakes have dropped significantly. We are now on twice a week watering rationing for our yards. Our water bill was higher than our electric bill last month trying to keep our yard from dying. The drought, dry heat, and wind has resulted in 3.6 million acres and thousands of homes lost to fire.

While Texas has experienced the hottest, driest weather on record, other parts of the country are experiencing flooding, hurricanes, and tornadoes. And let's not forget the record snow fall during the past few winters.

It kind of reminds me of the old joke I have heard several ministers tell over the years. The one about the man that falls over the side of a cliff. As he is hanging on for dear life, a hiker comes by and offers to pull him to safety. The man refuses because he says God will save him. Next someone in a boat offer assistance from below. Again the man refuses help because he says God will save him. And finally, a helicopter flies by and tries to assist the man. Once again he refuses help, because he is waiting on God to save him. The man eventually drops to his death. When he arrives in heaven he asks God why he didn't save him from falling from the cliff. God responds, “I sent you a hiker, a boat, and a helicopter and your refused them all!”

I have to wonder what it will take for us to fully and openly acknowledge climate change. When the earth disintegrates and we all perish will God say, “I sent you climate scientists, hurricanes,  tornadoes, snow, droughts, fire and rain. What were you waiting for, the locusts?”