If you’ve been living under a rock (or Southern California for that matter) you probably weren’t aware that the rest of America, minus Florida, is practically blanketed with snow. It makes me rather sad knowing SoCal will probably never get snow ever, but I’m happy we don’t have to deal with threats of snow storms all the time much like the East Coast and the rest of the nation.
This historical occurrence, the first of its kind apparently, has been dubbed a polar vortex. It’s quite the name really! SoCal experiences the polar vortex every year. Just ask Jimmy Kimmel to show you the gag reel of the news stations.
The record cold has left people wondering why this is occurring now of all times. The easiest culprit to blame it on is global warming. Global warming, the bane of human existence, the ugly foster child of industrialism, weapon of mass destruction much worse than any nuclear bomb, and now the chief cause of one of the coldest winters on record in America. I seriously could not lift my jaw up from the ground after reading that one.
Granted, I’m not a climatologist. I’m not a meteorologist. Heck I haven’t taken chemistry since junior year of high school. Count me out of the science camp and into the skeptic circle. I hate that word ‘skeptic.’ Can we just call it reasonably concerned? The great scientists on this campus can explain this one much better than me.
Remember when Gore claimed that global warming was going to leave the polar ice caps completely melted. This spawned a “save the polar bears” campaign supported by kids and adults alike. Now I’m not a Republican, but I had to utter a small chuckle when Limbaugh put a ticking clock on his site counting down until 2014. 2014 has come and the caps are still there.
It seems as though everything is getting blamed on global warming. The warmth is global warming. The cold is global warming. Your dead fish is global warming. Heck that game of beer pong you lost! Global warming. It has to be.
It’s the narrative that’s been shoved down our throats, beaten into our heads. We are a culture familiar with demonizing the dangers and threats of global warming.
The Secretary of State, John Kerry, has more important things to worry about, and yet he finds time to give a speech about how your SUV is more dangerous than Iran’s enriched uranium.
If we dig a bit deeper, what we begin to realize is that it isn’t just global warming. It’s the propensity of the American populace to seek out some scapegoat. Americans love to pass the blame. It makes it easier when everyone can blame the same thing or person. Global warming is just one. Some other examples: George Bush, saturated fat, etc.
It’s easy to blame something so that we may escape looking at the cause. Have a cold? Blame global warming. Your pipe just burst? Must be global warming. Time to file taxes? Global warming.
Could global warming be causing this polar vortex? Who knows other than the experts! The proponents say warming must be precluded by moments of cooling. It’s all part of the cycle apparently. I’ll let the scientists answer that one. By the way, I think the better term, or excuse me, the more politically correct term is climate change. Here we go again. Once people realize the old drum can’t be beat anymore they change the drum skin.
David Vu is a fourth-year public health policy major. He can be reached at davidnv@uci.edu.