Weather has been crazy so far this year. Incidentally, I just watched the movie The Day After Tomorrow. The film is about the end of the world because of drastic climate changes brought about by global warming and its effects. It starts out with massive storms until the temperature drops and the northern hemisphere is hit by another ice age. On the whole this probably was one of Emmerich's most overblown, silly films that I've seen. From a scientific point of view it may be complete bullshit.
But after watching it I did start thinking about the weather in slightly different terms. Come to think of it, this winter in Germany has been the harshest I can remember in my lifetime. It started snowing in November already. It was so sudden and much that the crews at Frankfurt airport nearby couldn't cope and lots of flights were cancelled. Then after a brief period of warmer weather it started snowing again in January. This time it was even more. The temperature dropped below -10 degrees at night - something that is extremely rare in these parts of Germany. Over the course of one weekend we had more than 10cm of snow. Several hundred flights were cancelled. And more just kept coming down. Eventually, communities, especially in the temperate Rhine Valley even began running out of grit and salt to sprinkle the roads. The were loads of accidents during January and February. On the road or motorway because some cars and many foreign trucks were not equipped and didn't have the right tyres for driving on snow. Some even on the sidewalk where people slipped and fell because the bottom layer of snow had been compacted into a sheet of ice.
Now that the snow has finally melted the country is beginning to face new weather problems. Violent gales on Friday and today have disrupted traffic because trees were uprooted or broke and fell on the road or rails. I consider myself lucky to have made it home with main line trains delayed and local public transport disrupted, too. I'm sure people have been hit by falling branches.
Of course, these are all small things. There have been much more severe natural disasters like recent hurricanes and flooding. But even these small events - do they indicate a gradual change in climate? Have we been too reckless with our planet and are we beginning to see the consequences? It probably won't happen as quickly or drastically as in the movie but probably the solution to the problem won't be as easy as in the movie either and there probably won't be hero to save mankind. It's interesting that my friend has just had to write a short essay on climate change and the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Maybe it's really time we sat down and talked about solutions instead of talking about politics.