All anybody wants is a snowy winter season, perfect for sledding and snowball fights or staying cozy inside with a blanket and cup of hot chocolate. Songs like “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Let it Snow” rave and applaud the idea of having snow during the holiday season.
Unfortunately, however, that idea may have to remain just that — an idea.
This year, winter is predicted to be far warmer with far less snow than usual, and this is an unfortunate development that we may have to get used to.
According to Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, by 2050, winters will be 5 to 11 degrees warmer and a month shorter with far less snow, and by 2100 much of the world will have snow-free winters.
This is not just weather patterns. This isn’t a natural phenomenon, nor is it a coincidence.
Though it may be a buzzword that sets alarms off in people’s heads to either panic or disagree, this is a clear-cut example of an impact of climate change and global warming.
Don’t be fooled, however. Global warming doesn’t necessarily mean the earth will get hotter. In the long run this is true, but in the short term, it can mean far more extreme weather highs and lows. Winter storms will become few and far between, but when they come, they may be devastating.
The New York City Climate Clock reads 4 years and 341 days. That’s 4 years and 341 days until our carbon budget is depleted. Four years and 341 days until the impacts of climate change are devastating; 4 years and 341 days until we can’t go back. Until it is irreversible.
As a civilization, as humanity, the climate crisis is what will be our downfall. Our death.
It is time to ask ourselves “Will our children know what snow is?” and if the answer is “no,” as it currently appears to be, we need to ask ourselves another question: “What can we do to change that?”
These questions go beyond a snow-covered yard on Christmas morning. They’re beyond a cup of cocoa. Beyond a sled and a slope. Beyond a snowman with a corncob pipe and a button nose. These questions are our future.
