Today – January 25! – the snow was melting on Saskatoon’s streets and I was slush-splattered from riding in it. Guess I’ll go back to walking.
It’s really thanks to living in the downtown core that I can do this. Everything is close. I live in an old section of town, designed before the car was king. I walked to my doctor’s appointment for a checkup the other day. I walk to my studio, to the library, to the Mendel Art Gallery, to my piano lesson, to the grocery store – and none of these walks take more than 30 minutes, most much less. They are often joyful walks, like yesterday when I saw the bald eagle that’s been patrolling the river. And lately I never go a day without being entertained by ravens. Then there’s the loopy coyote tracks, the unmigrated ducks, the pigeons roosting under the bridge by the thousands. I love my walk to “work”.
South Sask. River, with ducks and steam from the power plant
On Sunday we took a long walk in fresh snow – at last! – along the river to the weir. The river running through it is what gives this city its beauty. I must figure out a way to paint its winter loveliness without freezing my fingers. It was a monochromatic day, all white, grey and black, but not cold, except after my mitts got soaked from throwing sticks for Linus, who had a blast.
We talked about uncertainty and complexity.
For example I’ve been thinking about how concerned everyone is about our “aging demographic”. But the baby-boomers were the first generation of kids who ate food that was heavily chemicalized: pesticides, additives and colorings galore, some now known to be carcinogenic. We were also the first to be exposed to nuclear radiation: “fall-out” from bomb tests, routine nuclear power plant releases, spills, explosions, and X-rays; on top of which we’re flying more than any previous generation. So as the number of my friends diagnosed with cancer mounts, I wonder how many of us will make it to our 80th birthdays. Our poor bodies may succumb to all the toxics they’ve accumulated after six or seven decades.. Problem solved!
I don’t mean to be grim – my point is really about uncertainty. We might plan and prepare for an event that appears inevitable, and then fails to occur.
Which is the argument of the climate change deniers. Why bother to change our whole way of life if we don’t know for sure the planet is going to hell?
And -what do you know – they have a point! The melting of the polar ice caps may add enough cold fresh water into the seas that warm ocean currents – the Gulf Stream in particular – will shut down and large areas of the planet will be cooler, not warmer, even to the point of possibly bringing on another ice age. Far-fetched? Who knows? The earth’s climate is made up of countless micro-climates all interacting, and each micro-climate is made up of so many components it’s mind-bogglingly complicated, and far beyond the capability of any computer models to predict.
Which isn’t to suggest we shouldn’t act. After all it’s because of our pumping greenhouse gases into the air that the ice caps are melting. Best not to mess with the climate’s miraculous life-giving equilibrium.
BTW I was happy to read Paul Hanley’s column this week countering arguments against wind power based on noise and health hazards. I intend to research it a bit myself but thank you Paul, I have a sense of whew, relief.
I’m really liking this blog. Messages like yours are what are inspiring me and my family to move out of the burbs and closer to work. I plan on walking and biking to work and other shops we frequent in the very near future. Thank you for re-inspiring me and my family!
Thanks Kristina, for writing. What you say inspires me – I guess we’re mutually inspiring! Best of luck in your new habitat.