The other day I watched one of those doom-and-gloom shows on the Discovery Channel about the various scenarios in which the world as we know it comes to a catastrophic end. Gigantic tsunamis from the Canary Islands destroying the Eastern Seaboard of the United States… Super Volcanoes in Yellowstone National Park…Come on you know you’ve seen that show too.
The very next day a colleague turned to me and coincidentally stated, “We’re doomed.” When I pressed for an explanation she noted the recent inclusion of polar bears to the endangered species list and the fifty square kilometer block of ice that broke off in North Canada and is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.
I teased, feigned concern by stating that when the ice melts and raises the sea level I will be even more thankful for my new 6th floor apartment, and went about my business.
A few hours later a news story about UFO’s at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport caught my attention and shortly thereafter I came across this article about a meteorite concluding its intergalactic journey in a New Jersey bathroom.
While commuting home I noticed the headline of a newspaper claiming that the last time New York experienced a November and December free of snow was 1877. Then I made the poor choice of watching “War of the Worlds” on-demand.
Today the temperature has topped 70 degrees.
Perhaps we are doomed after all.
Update (1/8/2007): All this and now noxious fumes... My Caesar quote is all to appropriate!
"I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air."
-Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
7 comments:
Quite frightening, when you see it all together like that. But maybe that's what it takes.
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Okay, I just have to get on my soapbox for a minute. I hate to say this, but we can only blame ourselves for the screwy things happening with the weather and the environment - which will affect future generations. So I'm trying to lessen my carbon footprint: Commuting via subway instead of driving, for instance. That cuts out 460 miles worth of air pollution and gas a month. Also lots of recycling (I have the embarrassing tendency of plucking empty soda cans from the trash and taking them home to recycle).
Josh - I tag you!
Go to my blog and play the game...I can't find out what it is for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am also trying to lessen my "carbon footprint". Since I switched from a vehicle that got 11 MPG to one that receives only 9 MPG, I've been trying to drive 30% less in order to make up for that difference.
Interesting post - I know it was written over a week ago, I'm a little behind and just saw it. It's interesting because your perspective comes from your own reality at a given moment and place. Then when you share what 'your world' was exposed to, it makes someone else far away really think about their reality and what has gone on, and how it all interconnects.
Where you had a 70 degree day, UFO's, and a block of ice, here on the opposite end of the continent, in the last 24 hours - it's unseasonably cold and snowy, I saw a comet last night at sunset (McNaught's), and there was a 'no tsunami' alert on my local weather page due to an 8.2 earthquake yesterday in the Pacific near Japan. There is a 'stagnant air' alert as well due to a cold air mass settled over the area. The last month or two has brought out freak weather with record rain and flooding, winds and widespread power outtages, snow, ice and school closures. And we did visit Yellowstone this summer, and were kind of freaked out by the supervolcano theories when we planned our visit.
Sorry for the long comment, but it's all sort of interesting isn't it?
I ran the AZ rock'n'roll half-marathon last Sunday, and on the way, driving from New Mexico to Arizona, I could not help stopping a few miles off the highway at Meteor Crater - although it was freezing cold and the snow was accumulating. The crater is 4000 feet across and the impact, at its time, was quite a disturbing event. The official flyer ended with a warning: "it can happen again."
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