Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

A recent letter in the local newspaper included a remark which is practically an article of faith for climate change deniers. I believe it is also a problem for many believers. The writer stated that because “weather forecasters today can’t predict the weather accurately for the next two weeks,” computer models attempting to follow climate change are also inaccurate. Such models may well be inaccurate, but not because of any connection between the two disciplines; meteorology and climatology are completely unrelated studies. According to Wikipedia, meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere, while climatology is the study of weather conditions averaged over a period of time. Meteorologists work with the degrees and interactions of variables that exist in the atmosphere – such things as temperature, air pressure, water vapor, etc. Their range of inquiry is restricted to the short term: days or weeks. Their tools consist of sensors of all...

Whenever I wanted to do what the crowd was doing, I would say to my mother, “But everybody’s doing it,” to which she would reply, “If everybody was jumping into a fire, would you jump in too?” But in this case, I figure my opinion is as good as that of most people, so I might as well put it out there. In fact, it may be a bit better, because I am calling it an opinion; most people consider their opinion to be a fact. So I am going to write about three news stories from 2013 that, in my opinion, have the potential to make profound changes in the way Americans look at the world.  1. Pope Francis – As usual, the new pope’s tenure is severely constrained by his age, therefore the amount of real change he can bring to the church is also limited. His proposal to change the emphasis of the church from personal morality to compassion and service is a good one, but already there is grumbling among the bishops and other hardliners. However, among the rank and file members, as well as n...