Most folks get that global warming causes climate change. What they don't always understand is that these changes can be one thing where you live, another thing somewhere else. Here it gets hotter, there it gets colder. Here the rains come, there they don't. What is the same for everyone is that things won't be the same wherever you are.
So how do you get a handle on this? Well, you can start by paying attention to the long-term changes in the natural world around you. Start a journal or diary or, God help you, a blog. Make a note that the pheasants you saw all the time 20 years ago are gone, that the snows come later (or earlier) than they used to, that the rivers are lower (or higher) than they used to be, that you get more (or less) thunderstorms than you used to.
These are vital clues about climate change as it is happening in your neck of the woods. Doing this isn't as easy as it used to be because we tend to live in a cocoon, be it our house or our car our our I-tunes. We move around more, we are on the go more, we don't stop and smell the flowers. We bicycle or jog past them, locked in on whatever is coming out of our headphones.
Walk, don't run. Tune in to the natural world that is within the field of your vision. The signs are there. You just have to look for them.
The dots for the above thoghts were connected by a book I picked up in the library today. The title is "Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness," written by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Here are some excerpts that really hit home for me:
"We live on a changing earth where ecological degradation and global climate change threaten the most foundational biological processes. If the evolution of wildlife is to continue in a meaningful way, humans must attain a changed habit of being, one that allows us to recognize and act upon a sense of ourselves as integral to the wider earth community."
"... our collective actions over the next several years will decide whether earthy life will continue its descent into ecological ruin and death or flourish in beauty and diversity."
"There is a way to face the current ecological crisis with our eyes open, with stringent scientific knowledge, with honest sorrow over the state of life on earth, with spiritual insight, and with practical commitment. But the work does not have to be dour ... or accomplished only out of moral imperative ... or ... fear. ... Our actions can instead arise from a sense of rootedness, connectedness, creativity and delight."
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