Photo taken in Lancaster, PA - Jan 5, 2007

The photo to the right was taken on January 5, 2007 in Lancaster, PA. We have two Japanese cherry trees next to our condo. Both are in bloom. I have never seen anything like it. We sometimes have trees blooming early in the spring, but never in the middle of winter. Our normal daytime highs for this time of year are around 38 degrees. For the past several weeks, the highs have been in the high fifties and low sixties. If this continues, the orchards will soon be blooming and we will get very little fruit next summer.

Don't get me wrong. I love the warm temperatures and the lack of snow and ice. After all, I spent seventeen winters in Florida. However, this is not normal. Indeed, this is scary. Who knows what the future holds for our planet? Before anyone writes me and tells me that you cannot predict climate changes from weather changes, I understand that perfectly. However, this is just another little piece being fitted in the larger pattern of global warming. Everything is accelerating toward climate change.

As I said last week, it may already be too late for us to do anything about it. But it is certainly incumbent on us to try. Let us each vow to do what we can to reduce the use of fossil fuel energy. Time is running out. The major effects will not occur in our lifetime, but they will in that of our grandchildren. What a legacy to leave them!