The Sentinel, Change 291213

      There is a major change going on right now, a change that will impact our country dramatically.

      It is perhaps something many people either don’t think about or dismiss as a normal part of the cycles of life on our planet. If you haven’t already guessed what I am writing about, it is climate change.
      Years ago, before we were born and up into the fifties, the Mississippi river would freeze over 5 or more feet every winter as far south as Saint Louis. There were companies that hired men to go out on the ice and cut out huge blocks of ice that were then stored in caves until summer when those same men would load those blocks into insulated trucks and go around all the neighborhoods selling ice in the 25 pound block size. Those blocks were then carried in by the man and placed in an icebox which every home had. That was how perishable food was kept in the summertime. I remember well, we kids in the neighborhood would wait for the truck to arrive. The man would use an ice pick to break off a block and when he left to take the ice into the home we would jump into the back of the truck and grab those chips of ice that were on the floor of the truck and savor them as they cooled us down. Now the Mississippi has not frozen over enough (at least 4 inches) to even walk across for over 50 years.
      The troubles with global warming are many, more than I will list. I will only cover two of them. The first one is with polar ice caps melting at a parabolic rate the sea levels are rising and coastal areas will be flooding on a permanent basis, some are already feeling the effects of this on the east coast. Our navy is already raising the piers by 3 feet at Norfolk, Virginia our largest base on the east coast. All along the east coast places are having some flooding with every storm, blocking access to homes. As this increases there will be massive property losses. Manhattan island in N.Y. city will eventually flood permanently. Naval bases on both coasts will be unusable. The second thing is as sea levels rise the water warms up, kills marine life and the warmer water creates ever more severe storms, which exacerbate trouble number one.
      There is hope though, all we need to do is follow through on it. Auto makers are changing over to only manufacturing electric cars. This change will decrease the carbon buildup in the atmosphere. The secondary benefit of that is the oil rich countries who have held this country hostage over fuels we needed will lose the major share of their income. Their vast wealth has enabled them to perpetuate the never-ending wars in the middle east. Developments in solar power and wind turbines and battery storage will be able to produce all the electricity we need. This my friends will save our planet if we follow through and choose to give our children and grandchildren a habitable planet to live upon.