As if 28+ inches of Palouse powder wasn't evidence enough, a plethora of severe tantrums by Old Man Winter lashed the far reaches of the world this winter, leading me to think that perhaps Al Gore really isn't the Messiah. Grown Jordanian men were transformed into giddy school boys after snow shutdown commerce and schools for the day throughout Jordan(MSNBC photo). China's transportation infrastructure was nearly shutdown because of the worst winter storms the country has seen in 50 years (CNN clip). Even the deserts of Iraq received snowfall for "the first time in memory"(MSNBC story).
It could be that the exceptionally strong weather is simply a matter of coincidence. Or, perhaps this string of wicked meteorological events is a sort of metaphorical slap to the face from the powers that be for humanity's collective arrogance in taking sole responsibility for shifts in global climate. A scientific Tower of Babel if you will.
A friend of mine (pictured) recently set out with a small group of Pacific Lutheran University students and faculty to scale the slopes of the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Their purpose? To document the toll of global warming and to see first hand how, much like mankind's hope for environmental redemption, snows on the summit of Kilimanjaro have melted into the past. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Photo courtesy C. Staudinger
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