The legend has it that while Rome was burning, the Emperor Nero played his violin. Now, this is probably not entirely true. Stringed instruments, according to History.com, did not exist yet.
The expression is still a great one though. Focused on things that don’t matter while the real problem is ignored.
I sometimes feel we are doing that today. In this case, ignoring the obvious while the planet is burning up. Climate change.
From NBC News, the headline reads: How Goldilocks conditions spawned a rare December tornado outbreak.
I take that to mean everything was “just right” for this disaster.
The December tornadoes that tore through Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas were shocking in their strength and timing.
It’s warm for this time of year. It’s humid. One expert says it looks more like April than December.
All that helped fuel the atmosphere that created these terrible tornadoes. “Goldilocks” conditions brought everything together perfectly. Disastrously. Horribly.
There are other signs too. The news out of the Antarctic is very troubling.
CNN reports that one of the ice shelves safeguarding the “Doomsday Glacier” could shatter in the next three to five years.
What does all this mean? It’s complicated. So, here goes.
Satellite images show the ice shelf keeping together the Thwaites glacier in western Antarctica is coming apart. If that happens and that glacier melts, billions of tons of ice would be dumped into the sea.
That’s why the Thwaites glacier is also called the “Doomsday glacier.” It’s the size of Florida.
Can you imagine all that water being added to our oceans? If Thwaites collapses, sea levels could rise by several feet. That would put coastal communities and low lying nations at risk.
This is not going to happen overnight. It could take decades. That said, it is beginning. Just one more thing to worry about that is disrupting the planet.
Nero fiddled as his world collapsed. I feel like we are doing the same with climate change. Is it too late to fix things? Don’t know. It’s sure not looking good. Cue the music.