The big melt

Today is November 30th, and we've yet to have a freeze or even a frost. I read in the paper this week that Alpine skiing is already losing money, since not only is there little snow, but that the snow-making machines can't even operate, since they require a certain chilly temperature that hasn't been reached. Maybe Al Gore should run again and jump-start global warming reform. We certainly could do worse (and have!). Somebody's got to lead the way and get the world off of oil, immediately. Not news, but it's now dangerous and stupid not to do this. And since a lot of Holland already lies below sea level . . . it would be such a shame to lose an entire country. This all might not help the Mid-East, but it's worth a try.

My "Speaking & Listening" class's assignment this week, the video clip with questions about the content, focused on energy. I had thought that Holland would have gone over to wind energy and by now, would be well on the way to reducing its energy costs. It does have large areas that have the enormous white metal "trees" that generate wind energy, but it's not nearly enough. According to the clip, Sweden is in the forefront of alternative energy use in Europe, with a Saab that runs on something other than oil products. Holland uses several different methods, such as cow manure into gas, old mine water to heat and cool houses, some nuclear, solar, some cars running on alcohol, and "biomass". The clip laid blame on the lack of government will and also that some forms didn't return enough on the investment to warrant bigger development. For domestic use, most countries have no excuse, since solar has been around quite a while. I think of southern Europe and the Mid-East! All that sun. As an extra, several of the alternatives also seem much less people-intensive. No more oil trucks on emergency runs in snowy weather, for example. No more smelly, filthy furnaces. No more terrifying gas leaks/explosions. No more dead canaries, not to mention miners. I wonder when this will all happen, globally.

Off to write a reaction to a newspaper article, for an assignment. Exams start on December 15th -- two weeks. My life will not be my own until mid-January.