The Daily Times

I’m going to Chicago in a couple of weeks. Winters in the Windy City are legendary — legendarily cold, that is.

Forty below with the wind chill factor blowing off Lake Michigan. I’m already stocking up on warm weather gear and my heavy winter coat will see rare use.

But around here, it is anything but wintry.

I was sitting with my granddaughter Kaitlyn last week after having just shared some of my world-famous Mickey Mouse pancakes when my wife made some comment about it being winter.

Kaitlyn, somewhat precocious and certainly smarter than her maternal grandfather, corrected her. “No, Bebe, it’s spring.”

Being the responsible grandparents that we are, we used this as a teaching moment. We talked about the seasons and the tilt of the earth away from the sun in the northern hemisphere and that this is what makes it colder this time of year.

Despite her advanced intelligence (really), she didn’t understand all that. What she knew was that it was warm outside and the grass was still mostly green. And the Camellia bush had blooms on it and no we really can’t even think about jumping in the swimming pool.

But ... if you think about it ... she really may have a point. I mean, it was in the 50’s, overcast but still a quite nice day. A day when short sleeve shirts were not completely out of the question.

It hadn’t been really cold in a while and a snowflake wouldn’t have a chance. So maybe it is spring. Out of the mouths of babes and all that.

But the calendar still said January. So what’s going on?

I know it’s arguable and I really want to be wrong about this but I’m convinced that part of the culprit is global warming.

Yes, I know about seasonal cycles and all that and maybe we had a similar period of warming 20,000 years ago but I’ve seen enough evidence to know that there may be some truth to it.

There are some things that we know. Take the ozone layer: It has never been narrower. And the ozone layer protects the earth from the sun, essentially keeping it cooler.

We know that carbon emissions, mostly from the cars we drive, are at an all-time high. And we know that carbon emissions deplete the ozone layer. So increased carbon emissions equal ozone depletion, wouldn’t you think?

Glaciers that have been around for thousands of years have simply disappeared. The polar ice caps are shrinking. I think those things are beyond argument.

I will acknowledge that this is disputable but what if it isn’t? What if we are destined to have a climate that is more akin to that expected in LA (lower Alabama)? What if we don’t have much winter in Tennessee anymore? What could all this do to our agriculture infrastructure?

I, for one, would see it as a tragedy. And something that could change our lives dramatically.

Joe Black, PT, DPT, SCS, ATC is a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Total Rehabilitation and is Manager of Outpatient Rehabilitation for Blount Memorial Hospital. Write to him at (joeblackdpt@gmail.com)

You must be logged in to Facebook to comment. If you're not logged in to Facebook, a login window will open when you click "comment". Or you can log in now. You may need to refresh your page after logging in via that link.