By As big swaths of our country are enveloped in snow and ice, with places struggling with the freezing cold that don’t generally have to worry about it, it could be a wake up call about climate change. I have serious doubts it will have that effect however.
The willful ignorance in this country, even with the evidence right before our eyes, is a glaringly American trait, and it is not one of our good ones. I remember our first winter in El Paso, Texas. There was a freak snowstorm and just a few inches of snow had the city shut down. They didn’t have the infrastructure to handle it. Cars and trucks were sliding off of roadways, people couldn’t get their cars out of driveways that had iced over.
For us, it was amusing, having come from Upstate New York where that much snow wouldn’t have even warranted a snow day, but for the native El Pasoans, it was a nightmare. The only plows in the city were at the airport and there weren’t enough of them to do much more than make I-10 marginally passable.
The only place locals had seen that much white on the ground was at White Sands.
I’m seeing a lot of that same energy in the pictures I’m seeing from friends and loved ones across the south. People who do not understand the level of danger in driving on roads that have iced over with tires that were not made for driving in snow and ice. I saw a clip yesterday of an SUV backing out of a driveway onto a street that looked clear, only to just slide sideways down the road.
Wherever you are today, Readers, I hope you stay safe and warm. Avoid putting your life, and the lives of others, in danger.
Cover Photo by Damian McCoig on Unsplash
Natalie J Case 