NORMAL LIFE: Has Winter Come And Gone?

Engulfed by a mild virus that I can't seem to shake off whilst dealing with a resurgence of my neck injury from last summer, I'm find this first week back at work a challenge. Yet another example of becoming a Finn is my refusal to seek medical advice. This morning, my colleagues and I discussed another, winter-related topic: the lack of snow.

Finland is no exception to this phenomenon; Ski resorts throughout Europe are suffering from a lack of business due to non-existent snow on their slopes. Normally, at this time of year, Finland is bitterly freezing. On January 19th last year (see here), I wrote about how the temperature plunged to -23ºC, something that seems unlikely to be repeated.

To my mind, Winter arrived already at the beginning of last November, with 1-25cms of snow in the south of Finland. It was lovely. Today, the temperature is +1ºC and I'm starting to wonder if it will drop to -12ºC like it did last November. Has winter come and gone?

For countries like Finland, global warming may seem like a good thing for a respite from a possible -23ºC is indeed a wonderful thing. However, if we consider 50 years down the line, Helsinki could risk flooding of an unprecedented scale if the Arctic Ice continues to melt at the current rate, as could other northern cities such as Sweden's Stockholm, Norway's Oslo, Estonia's Tallinn and Russia's St. Petersburg.

So, what's being done about it? Any efforts made by Europe will prove futile because the United States and Australia refuse to sign the Kyoto Agreement, which is a declaration by supporting states to cut their greenhouse gases which is known to contribute to global warming. Add China's industrialisation to the mix (can you believe they want to use coal?!), and the planet is doomed.

In 50 years time, I will be nearly 80 years old, and how shameful it will be to turn around to the youngsters and say "Yeah, we knew it was gonna happen, but time went so quickly that we just couldn't action anything". In the meantime, Mother Nature will continue to make a presence with Tornados, Hurricanes, Typhoons and Tsunami's. What will it take for someone to take a stand?