A
message flashed across my computer screen the other day, and it read something like:
“July 2019 will go on record as the hottest month ever recorded in weather
history.” I’m not sure whether this is a fact or not, but it does seem like a
red flag. There have been more than a few stories on the news over the past
month about the scorching heat wave presently inundating Europe. As well, over
the past two or three summers, the devastating wildfires in Western North
America have been a wake-up call that Mother Nature is pissed off. I don’t know
if it is still in effect, but last week there was a complete fire ban in our
region. Yesterday, I read a notice from one of the local campsites near us,
stating that 7000 litres of water had been drawn from the campsite’s water
source in less than a day. The notice went on to say that the well would
require a day or so to recover. All these things are warnings, but are we
heeding them? I don’t think so.
In
the early 80s, I wrote a song entitled Waters Gone about a dream I’d had.
When I wrote the song, I suggested that it was a metaphor for the Savings and
Loan crisis which had just sucked $500 Million out of the American economy. In
fact, it was nothing more than a song about the desert. I used to have a lot of
dreams about the desert, maybe because, as a little boy, my family used to
vacation in what was then the sleepy little town of Palm Springs, California.
Even back in the 60s, we were reminded of the scarcity of water in that region.
I distinctly remember riding horseback out in the desert, and in the middle of a
bone-dry desert, we came upon a lush, 18-hole golf course. It seemed bizarre. “I
have seen oases, I have seen jeweled caravans …”
Clearly
the effects of climate change are now being felt across the earth. Soon large
populations of people, especially in places like sub-Saharan Africa, will
likely be forced to move or perish. I don’t deny that climate change is real, I
think only a fool would, but I am skeptical about the notion that man can
change its course appreciably. The best and most logical advice I glean from
economists and scientists, is that we need to better adapt to the inevitable
changes. I doubt we’ll come to a global consensus on greenhouse gas emissions. First
World and emerging Third World nations are not going to suddenly comply with
onerous (and economically devastating) emissions standards. I think that ship
has sailed. As populations expand, the planet gets hotter, and fresh water
becomes scarcer, we humans are running out of time. The Mother Nature has a brutal
way of evening the playing field. I think the two biggest issues we face as a
species are how to manage our exploding populations, and how to protect our fresh
water supply. I also think that how we deal with these two issues will
determine the survival of our species. The sky may not be falling, but the
sands of time are.
“I
was walking through the desert and a stranger came from nowhere out of the sun
He
was tall and gaunt and dressed in black and he had eyes that were on the run.
And
I asked him: “Stranger where did you come from?”
And
the told me, “I am from no where and I am no one.
I
am here to tell you your time has come;
We
are all just prisoners of the sun, now that the water’s gone.”
Jamie Oppenheimer,
Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE
OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on
his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a new feature
of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.
#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin
#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin
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