Thursday, October 03, 2002

What is Worth Fighting For This fall has been very warm in New England.  My wife is still swimming in our neighborhood pool.  Most years the pool is shut down by now because it becomes clogged with leaves and is then closed up for winter.  This year the leaves are still on the trees.   Fall in New England is one of the most spectacular environments on earth.  The deep reds, oranges and yellows of the maple, the yellows of birch and beech, the dark green of the pines, create a scene of peace and beauty that swells the spirit of those who live here.   But this fall, the colors are dull, not vibrant.  Some of the trees are turning brownish, not bright red and yellow.  The problem is that it’s too warm.  Bill McKibben, author of the End of Nature and other books, put it succinctly in this months Boston magazine, when the editors invited five authors to write about fall in New England.   “Few realize how fast and how thoroughly the climate is changing.. Later this century, the climate in Boston will resemble Richmond or Atlanta...  A thousand practical dangers arise from that...but if you want to know what it will feel like—it will feel like no more autumn.”   The color change in New England is driven by hard frosts at night, which stops leaf respiration.  On warm nights, the leaves continue to breathe, using up the sugars that make up the color.   Having made my home in the outdoors of New England for 30 years, the loss of fall feels like a dead zone spreading across the earth.  This is a loss worth fighting against. It is the result of the domination of our government by those who profit from oil, who will fight to keep plundering the resources of the earth.   Bush withdrew from Kyoto, and his administration foresees emitting 43% more greenhouse gasses by 2020.  At the same time, Europe will be cutting emissions by 12% by 2010.  Control of resources and a desperate refusal to change course is behind the American reconquest of the Arab world. This is not about Iraq.  It is about whether in the face of global warming America will use its military might to dominate the planet’s resources to the detriment of all.   Do Americans yet realize that this drive for resources will cost us all we hold dear—our traditional ecology, our traditional communities? I think not.  Making the full costs of world domination clear is the first step to resistance.  One of the things we are fighting to preserve is the fall colors in New England. 9:29:43 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2002 Toby Sackton. Last update: 12/26/2002; 9:30:21 PM.