This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Monday 21 March 2022
Is It Just Me or Has the 'Climate Crisis' Spoilt the Simple Appreciation of Nature?
Emma John poses the question "Is it wrong to seek some release from miserable reality?" (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/20/war-covid-spring-daffodils). John starts her analysis, with a description of how the Spring 'awakening' (sunshine and daffodils) has reignited smiles on London faces. She opines that people have suddenly become more friendly. John states that nature is good at making people feel better. That was my own past experience. Recognition of the climate crisis (and I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, even an amateur climate scientist), has, to some extent, spoilt this for me. I now agonise over each bout of weather. Is its arrival 'seasonal' or too early/late? Is the temperature within the normal range or exceptionally high/low? Is the rainfall adequate or excessive? Did the blossom appear on time? What about its insect pollinators? Did the migratory birds arrive/leave on time? These, of course, are only concerns about my own 'neck of the woods'. What's happening on an International scale? It's, of course, worth pointing out that only extreme events actually appear in non-specialist media. I often miss the 'old days' when I could just enjoy a sunny spell. Does anyone else feel like this or have I simply become the archetypal old grump?
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