The Brighter Side of White

It's a common occurence during the winter months up here in Moorhead, MN. The wind is blowing and the snow darts around trying to cover every last remnent of the earth. Still i fear that there might be an end to the blissful dream of waking up to a winter wonderland. I know this subject has been visited more times than a confessional recieves visits from a devoute catholic prostitute but i worry about my winter mornings.

Global Warming is officially a problem. If you haven't seen the movie "An Inconvenient Truth," go rent it, it will be well worth your time. I'll warn you though, if you drive a big SUV and never recycle, get ready to feel horrible. But seeing it snow for the first time in a month really made me think.

Maybe you don't know what winter was like or should be like up in the fridged north. I've created a little snipit of info for you who are unaccustomed to the Moorhead climate.

-It's cold ... real cold ( months after months of below freezing temps.)
-it snows ( a winter sports heaven)
-it's windy (it's always windy here but it just stings more with the cold)
-It's white (every where you look, everything is covered in snow)

These are the elements that make a winter a winter for Moorhead, MN. but recently i've noticed that we are missing some of those elements. It's still cold but not as it used to be. I think we've gone a couple weeks without coming above freezing but that's no where near where it was. The snow comes but maybe once a month and there is no where near the accumulation we are accustomed to (we don't use snow plows up here, we use front end loaders ... you know, the huge construction machinery that mines use to lift tons of rock ... yeah thats how much snow we used to get.) I wish the wind would leave but it hasn't and i don't think it every will.

I'm not saying that i think Moorhead will become a tourist trap because of the warming temperatures and changing weather conditions but i think it is a cause for concern. The future could be a completely different world and not just in my little nook of the world.

I'm not so worried about my future. I know that we'll run out of oil within my lifetime and i'm sure a few other natural disasters will shake things up a bit but who i really worry for is the generations after me. My generation and the generations older than myself have all been blessed with a great period in time to live. We have seen miricles happen in all manners of speaking. The first moon walk, the first personal computer, and the new global backyard are just a few to speak of. But what good will these miricles do for the generations to follow if there is no planet left for them to live?

Snow is truly amazing. Not one flake the same and their existence so fragile but also so peaceful. I think if i were to have to chose my favorite day out of the entire year, it would be the day of the first actual snowfall. You feel refreshed, alive, and everything and everyone around you seems to be ... relaxed.