This is my contribution to this month's new virtual symposium mid-month challenge, Mid-Month Challenge 3, on the subject of the weather and specifically in the form of a letter of praise or complaint about the weather.
Dear Weather,
I'm writing to you to say how much I appreciate you. I know a lot of people grumble about you, but I like you. Come rain or shine, whether cold or hot, either thunder or lightning, and if snowy or windy, I like you very much. In fact, I can't live without you.
I know you've become moody and extremely moody of late but I know this isn't your fault.
As a mark of my great respect to you, I want to give you an original artwork created by Ed Hawkins, a British climate scientist. Titled Climate Stripes, each of his stripes represents the average temperature of a single year since 1850 to the present day. Shades of blue and red are used to denote the average temperatures relative to the average temperature over the period from 1961 to 2010, with blue representing cooling and red warming.
The Washington Post's weather editor, Jason Samenow, described Ed Hawkins' artwork as "the most compelling global warming visualization ever made".
You have clearly got hot, too hot many would say. But I do hope you get to enjoy the artwork for many centuries and even millenniums to come.
Yours faithfully,
spunkycumfun
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Ed Hawkins' Climate Stripes: Warming Stripes, Global, 2020:
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16 comments
Amidst the grumbling, it’s lovely to see it getting the recognition it deserves—though it does seem to be feeling a bit feverish these days. Hopefully Climate Stripes inspires it to cool down just a little in the coming centuries!
I hope it cools down but I fear it won't. We are on the edge of what climate scientists call the tipping point, the point of no return. Now they could be wrong but that means there's a lot of people to be all wrong at the same time.
Unfortunately, we might already be at a tipping point with climate change. Trump is only going to make things worse with his horrible fossil fuel agenda. The idiot is going to set us back many years.
The tipping point is nigh.
I can't wait till the climate change deniers homes are wiped out by floods/tornados/whatever. Think this will change their point of view?
Unfortunately climate change doesn't choose its victims. But, like you, I'm just amazed how anyone can deny climate change now.
No reasoned debate will shift the views of climate change deniers. Our best hope is the younger generations who are generally a lot more enlightened.
What? It is not 10 pages long? You were not given a length restriction and this is all you got?
Unless it's Trump's tariffs or ex-girlfriends, I am quite concise in my blog posts but very few seem to notice!
@spunkycumfun I don't know. Your challenge posts can be lengthy.
@Notaname99 This post was relatively short.
@spunkycumfun exactly, what gives with this one being so short? lol
@Notaname99 I just go with the flow though I do try and be concise while often failing. I've done quite a few shortish ones of late.
@LovingOral1964 Thank you. I'll keep going as I have kept going.
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Mark Twain 😀 A true genius
But Mark Twain was writing just as climate change was having a big effect.
@spunkycumfun my admired Mark was referring to the daily weather as a common topic for polite and cheerful chit-chat. Mark Twain has so many clever and funny quotes, this is one of my favorites 😀
@AuraAviatik6 Mark Twain was a brilliant writer who penned many great quotes. I wasn't trying to lock horns with you.
@spunkycumfun
Hi S! No, of course no, I didn’t mean that at all. I was just saying how much I adore Twain. I’ve loved him ever since I read Tom Sawyer as a kid! I know you weren’t being combative at all! Big kiss! 😊😘
@AuraAviatik6 I don't know why but I haven't read much Mark Twain.
Great contribution to the Symposium as weather is all you have said and much more. I enjoy the weather too, and someone really pissed off Mother Nature as she is totally out of control recently with all of the disastrous weather situations many face all around the world!!
I hope your Tuesday continues to treat you well..
Nature, unfortunately, is being affected by humans.
Yikes, that is striking indeed. In the knitting community, a popular thing is temperature blankets, where each row or square represents the high-low temps for each day of the year. I'm guessing the blankets have gotten progressively more red/yellow and less blue/green.
Ed Hawkins' artwork has made it to clothing. I'm glad knitwear is joining in.
I'm sure you could knit a brilliant Ed Hawkins' scarf.
@spunkycumfun great idea. After knitting one large size blanket and one throw, I think I'm done with very large pieces for a while.
@smartasswoman In an attempt to encourage you, I'd like to buy the first Ed Hawkins' scarf you knit. A scarf surely is less of a project than a blanket and a throw. I can see a cottage industry and even a lucrative sideline here!
@spunkycumfun lol. Not lucrative. Rather than leave a very long comment, maybe I’ll do a blog post some day…
@smartasswoman I'll look forward to that blog post.
If I understand the Stripes ... the 60s and 70s really were cool
It's quite a complicated and even an arbitrary formula he used. But you're right. He's trying to visually convey the point that things have really hotted up since.
It's very rare for scientists to use art to make a point.
I know I've missed the point of your comment. The 1960s and especially the 1970s were very cool decades! When I'm in my climate change bubble, the penny only slowly drops.
@spunkycumfun I can be too subtle sometimes.