“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

When is it going to happen? Winter that is.

I’m an old Kootenay boy, born and raised in the Kootenays and always been a weather nut no matter where my ship docked and it’s now been more than 20 years in the East Kootenay, but I’ve never seen anything like this. No snow on Fisher before the end of August. Swimming in both Norbury and Jim Smith lakes well into September and even October a couple of times and some flowers still blooming outside well into November and more bugs and flies buzzing around than I’ve ever seen so late in the year.

It’s almost getting scary! So, what’s going on?

Blame it on climate change and global warming are the stock responses. But that’s not answering the “why” part of the question because climate change has happened before. Many times before thanks to good ol’ Mother Nature, or whatever God you believe in.

Geo-chronologists say the earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old give or take a few billion years.  During past ice ages, some researchers say ice floes extended almost to the equator. Wrap your brain around that one. Conversely the earth was once so warm that dinosaurs used to frolic among the Redwood Trees and subtropical vegetation that then grew in a far warmer high arctic. That’s why dinosaur bones are being dug up today as far north as the Yukon and throughout the circumpolar world.

So, where does this leave us?  Caught between a rock and a hard place? No way. The answer is blindly obvious. Both sides are partly right in the endless climate change debate. Therefore, isn’t it time to stop fighting and start cooperating on how to deal with climate change?

Surely finding dinosaur bones sticking out of the Arctic tundra and ice bergs flowing near the equator is irrefutable proof that earth has been locked into a climate change regime since Day One of creation. What’s critical now is that there’s a new kid on the block – namely the Industrial Revolution – adding heat to the fire causing Mother Earth to heat up faster than it ever did before.

The evidence is all around us and if we don’t start taking it seriously, we’re all doomed and anyone who denies a climatic ‘Great Reckoning’ just around the corner is whistling in the graveyard.

You’d think this fact would have scared the Trump administration into attending the recent COP30 World Climate Conference in Brazil, but they didn’t even bother to send a delegation. Doing this will “undermine world co-operation” on the climate change issue, says former US presidential candidate John Kerry, who attended COP 30 as a Democratic Party representative.

Meanwhile, back in Cranbrook, life is relatively good with dozens of loaded coal trains passing through the Key City every day and several condo and housing projects either underway or in the late planning stage. It was also a surprisingly good year for tourism despite the tariff war being waged against us and the rest of Canada by the Trump administration.

But how long can it last with an economy still dependent on exploiting raw resources like coal, hydro energy and wood? When they run out what will we do then? Will AI save us? Or will it make things worse? No one knows the answer, but we’re going to find out soon enough.

Hopefully the answer won’t mean becoming the 51st state and waving a flag for the stars and stripes. A fate worse than death.

Sure, glad I’m retired.

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist who wants to see the border remain right where it is.

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