Friday, August 6, 2010

Helios


Helios

I sit with the white dog and stare out the window. 
 Though our cage is a lush one of flowers and tapestry, we are assuredly trapped here within. Calidity rises from the garden at dawn, bleaching the flowers to paper brown grey and turning the green grass to straw.  Almost audible, it hums and it grumbles round the cottage at noontime, whispers and murmurs on into the night.   Alone in our shadowy chamber of lamplight, we two are in hiding from the hot wrath of Helios, unleashed when his chariot came down near the earth to find something amiss on the waters - the blue waves now obscured by the folly of man, with the great feathered creatures now flightless, the maritime mysteries now gasping for air.

 Orwellian words are heard from our radio, warnings to stay in our homes.  Our eyes redden and burn with each venture outdoors.  So, what can we do now but gaze out our window?  How do we tame these mad torrid days?  As we sit with hands folded, waiting for autumn, are we witnesses to the dawn of a new blistered world - a strange faded landscape void of lushness and colour, against which our windows will always be closed?  
Is this now the new face of summer?

With a healthy cold nose, the big white dog nudges me away from my worry, his reminder that it’s time to play ball.  
For our hallways are long and the yellow ball is squeaky.  
There is still fun to be had, even inside. 
 Bless him.

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This is not complicated. We know that our planet is enveloped in a blanket of greenhouse gases that keep the Earth at a comfortable temperature. As we pump more carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse gases into that blanket from cars, buildings, agriculture, forests and industry, more heat gets trapped. What we don’t know, because the climate system is so complex, is what other factors might over time compensate for that man-driven warming, or how rapidly temperatures might rise, melt more ice and raise sea levels. It’s all a game of odds. We’ve never been here before. We just know two things: one, the CO2 we put into the atmosphere stays there for many years, so it is “irreversible” in real-time (barring some feat of geo-engineering); and two, that CO2 buildup has the potential to unleash “catastrophic” warming. When I see a problem that has even a 1 percent probability of occurring and is “irreversible” and potentially “catastrophic,” I buy insurance. That is what taking climate change seriously is all about.”

Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times, 8 Dec 09

Painting above by Howard Pyle

30 comments:

  1. Great quote at the end there... yes, I take it seriously.... but I still encounter people who say they are not sure about it, they've heard a skeptical scientist... and my jaw drops. Can we not just look around and use intuition to figure out that something is going on... do they still need a scientist to tell them? Ok, ranting...

    Sending you some cool breezes. We are getting a downpour at the moment, the first serious rain in over a month. I DO hope it lasts all day! Something is truly different, even the rain comes in tropical monsoon downpours, sheets and sheets....

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  2. Bless him, you & me too!




    Aloha from Honolulu :)

    Comfort Spiral

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  3. The crickets are in full chorus, too early for the beginning of August, and the cicadas came out too early this rainy summer. I know that folks grapple with climate change/global warming, and all, but, whatever one calls "it", something is changing. I am a gardener and we who play in the dirt know that there is a change. A change more than the fluke of a rough year with too much rain, not enough, snow, no snow, high and low temperatures. It has been happening over the last decade or so. There has been a shift and I hope, really hope, it is not too late.

    What a good quote, Pamela, as well as your story, well woven of you and of Edward and the oppressive heat that is pervading.

    I still have hope as I see the frogs hopping in our grass and the bees still bumbling in our flowers.

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  4. Nature will right itself.

    How will it look on our (human) side of the equation?

    "Not good Norman" as Katherine Hepburn said in, On Golden Pond.

    Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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  5. Ah, how romantically rendered your anst & langour, and how practically put the mechanics of our reality!

    Hoping you have blessed relief soon... it's thundering here. I'm happy to trade black and green for gold & haze this month!

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  6. I love the painting. I hadn't heard of the artist, but his work reminds me of Grant Wood.

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  7. An unspoken dread...but you dare to speak of it...bravo!

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  8. Thank you for your recent visit and comment Pamela. I do hope your summer season is not too unbearable, particulary for dear Edward with his thick furry coat. It seems you have extremes of weather where you live. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to wake up to snow falling.While wishing you some kind of break from the seasonally oppressive heat you are experiencing at the moment,I can imagine that Edward would be delightful company in such trying circumstances.x

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  9. You are the BEST at illustrating your posts dear Pamela!

    It is quite frightening how hot and muggy it is this summer...a real scorcher even here in New England...Love your Friedman quote...

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  10. Hi,
    It's important things, this about the nature and the weather.
    You make me think more about it.

    Have a lovely weekend !

    xo
    Anci

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  11. Ask any farmer round here about climate change and you'd have all the prrof you'd need.

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  12. Nature will always out, man will lose in the end, sadly.
    Thank you so much for your kindness on my blog. My pain is raw, I always fall head over heels with my dogs, and then of course the hurt is tremendous when we lose them. But kindness is a great soother, so thank you! Susie xxx

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  13. I am so pleased you speak of it, Pamela.

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  14. Never came across the word "calidity" before - even Blogger underlines it! - but it seems an appropriate expression for the unique heat that the world is experiencing!

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  15. Beautiful painting.
    We are having a very cool cloudy August here in the UK.
    I hope it gets cooler for you soon.M x

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  16. Edward,
    you have a lovely & interesting blog with fab photos & interesting opinions. Your people seem like my kind of humans.I am glad I stopped by & I will be back. Our daddies like what they see to.
    licks,
    Larry & Junior

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  17. After reading today in the newspaper all about wheat prices skyrocketing because of the heat wave and drought in Russia which has caused scorching of fields and fires there and in Europe...it may start to get through to the doubters....when t affects the pocketbook, people do pay more attention....one can only hope!

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  18. The weather all over the world is going crazy now. Temps of 50C in India in early summer, now they have killing floods. Terrible fires and smog in Moscow. We are living in frightening times. I hope it soon cools for you all over there Pamela. I can't wait for the damp and misty autumn days myself...my Irish blood I think.

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  19. Hi Pamela
    Fabulous post.. such an important issue and so taken for granted now!.. here is Aus we are not too happy about the great ol' hole in the ozone floating above us... perhaps it makes it more real for us.. yet still we need to do more...

    My friend Suzan [Old Grey Mare] posts about environmental issues 1st of each month.. hopefully the word will spread and people will take it more seriously.. i know both our governments need to..

    Have a lovely weekend.. Thanks for your sweet comment re my mum's photo... It's not my dad she is with.. it is from her competitive ballroom dancing days.. must try to find more of them.. ciao ciao xxx Julie

    OH... wonderful prose.. puts into perspective!

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  20. Dearest Pamela & Edward, with what pleasure I see that you have joined me over on the path...I treasure stepping with you both, here, and over there. These are the wonderful blessings of this (often strange) blogosphere that we have propelled ourselves into...

    Pamela, I think it is with our dawgs that the truest sanity reigns! Mine has a very large stuffed hedgehog (her current fave) which is actually larger than said dawg's whole head, HA!, extremely amusing...and she will appear with this hedgie around the hall corner - stop - peer at me with mischievous expectation and then RUUUUNNN to the other side of the house. Game is ON and whatever worry or fret I had goes mute. And I echo your sentiment - bless her.

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  21. It's hard to fathom how people can still doubt this transformation of our planet. I suspect if you were to take a poll where I live that people would scoff at the thought. We don't even see many in our neighborhood even participate in something as simple as recycling. Truly sad and the future generations will pay the price.
    You asked me about Tim Walker. I agree Pamela, his work is terrific and quite imaginative. Tell Edward my Buffy know just how he feels. She was prompting me last evening to cash her around the house. It's been too hot for several months to take her for a walk. She misses it so. A lovely, hopefully cooler Sunday to you all ~

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  22. My thoughts are with you Pamela, the world, well the humans in it and Kitty, my collie, a heat hater too sends love to Edward.
    It is quite cool for the time of year here and the sun is reluctant to show herself.
    When will the sleepwalkers in our world wake up?

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  23. Thomas Friedman often has really sensible and wonderful things to say --he was particularly good on the Israel/Palestine situation today....and he has actually gone to the places he talks about.
    He is excellent on our addiction to oil.

    I'm sure you and I and our idealistic fellow bloggers aren't too extravagant with the world's finite resources but most people persist in being quite oblivious.
    Makes me furious.

    Then I remember I travel by air....and feel guilty too.
    Sorry to be so boring on a Sunday.

    Hope you and Edward and Apple are surviving the heat --at least we aren't in Russia....

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  24. Oh my, I'd happily send you some of our temperate summer weather. Yes, it is something that is in danger of becoming 'old news' and therefore not high enough on our agenda. Thank you for such a poetic reminder, Pamela!

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  25. That is chilling. Please take care, we are blessed to so far have not experienced the crazy weather.

    Best wishes and inner dreams, X.

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  26. Living here in Texas in the same grip of heat you are describing I can feel your pain. I HATE SUMMER HERE!!!! In fact since I found the central coast of California my hubby is resentful when I tell him I love living in Texas 8 months out of the year but, I want to leave for 4 & be on the Pacific coast from Washington state, Oregon, & California for the summer. Oh WELL... What kind of dog is Edward? We lost our Sheltie in February & I'm looking for a new fur baby. He is wonderful. Have a great week & stay cool. Charlene

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  27. Pamela I adore the words and images and especially the thoughts you bring to us. very poignant as always...

    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  28. Sounds pretty hot there Pamela - glad I am not there as I do not care for the heat. Hope you soon get some cooling breezes for that Edward, who must feel the heat with his heavy voat.

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  29. Hope rain and relief are on the way over. We are all caught, in this big circle of life.

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  30. Happily, Thomas L. Friedman is labouring under a misapprehesion, the CO2 has been made into a bugbear for reasons best known to economic rationalists. In itself, CO2 is a minimal contributor and can easily be balanced by leaving the sequestered carbon in the ground, as oil and coal, where it rightly belongs. What all the scaremongers want to hide by a hate campaign against CO2 are all the toxic chemicals which are surreptitiously pumped into our atmosphere and which inhibit the normal take up of CO2 by earthbound minerals. Without CO2 we would have no forests or plant life.
    The solution is simple, plant more trees and stop deforesting old growth forests. A carbon tax is not going to address the problem, it will only make the wealthy more so.

    Your writing about the heat, for us unfortunately the norm for summer, is so beautifully lyrical and has the rhythm of 'The Highwayman', I could hear Anne declaiming it as I read. Just lovely.

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I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!