I came to St. Lawrence knowing it was going to be cold and snowing for a large portion of the school year… and I love it! But, our recent influx of shimmery, fluffy snowflakes has been getting me down. One of my favorite things to do is to lay in my bed and watch the snow fall in the morning, or to take the longer route home from class so I can watch it swirl in the wind, but lately these beautiful scenes have been conjuring up images of frozen ceiling fans and harmful power outages.
I can’t help but be reminded of the recent snow and ice storms all throughout the country. They have been especially impactful in Texas and surrounding states, which don’t have the preparation or infrastructure to manage them. They have presented a huge amount of problems: it doesn’t usually get close to this cold in the southern states, and people don’t have the insulation in their homes or wardrobes to deal with it. Residents are not used to driving in snow, and so roads have been a disaster zone. Grocery stores and other necessities are closed or unavailable. On top of all the expected snow-and-sub-zero-temperatures-in-a-place-where-that-doesn’t-happen issues, according to the Associated Press 400,000 doses of the COVID vaccine were also delayed from reaching their destinations.
These erratic weather patterns are another reminder of the inescapable force that is climate change. One of the likely causes of this storm is from changes in the shape of something called the ‘polar vortex’ in the Arctic Circle, which is an area of cold air that swirls around the poles. Air all over the globe is warming, and that includes the air in the polar vortex. When there is less of a difference in temperature between their air inside and outside the vortex, the swirling wind that usually keeps it confined tends to wander more. This causes pockets of the freezing arctic air to extend down to areas where it normally wouldn’t — like Texas. That also means this isn’t a one time freak event. The temperatures at the poles of the globe are changing more quickly than they are anywhere else, which means that the polar vortex is going to be visiting us more and more often. I know the south is usually said to have incredible hospitality, but I don’t think this weather is a welcome guest.
This is clearly a disaster, and there are clear connections to climate change, and clear implications that this kind of thing will continue to happen. There also are pretty clear goals outlined by climate scientists that need to be met in order to try to stop this situation from getting worse.
I feel like a lot of the pressure to meet those goals is put on individuals. We are told to eat less meat, drive our cars less, use less plastic, and on and on and on. All of those suggestions are things that will make a positive change, but that’s not telling the full truth. BBC has reported that 70% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by just 100 companies. I hate that the onus to change is being put on the individual instead of the corporations, especially because I feel like it distracts people from getting involved in activism or politics in a way that targets those companies.
Yes, there are changes everybody can make in their personal lives that will help steer us towards a better future, but we don’t all need to carry this weight alone. I think that meaningful change also comes from people working together and addressing the forces larger than ourselves.
The first step to doing this is being aware of the issues. So, enjoy Winter Carnival this Friday, but don’t forget our more southerly friends who might not be like these flurries as much as we do.