We Americans love classics. We love classic movies. We love classic cars. We love classic music from which we invented jazz and blues. We love Aristotle’s inductive and deducting thinking enabling us to invent computers and rockets. Like Marie Currie’s persistent search for truth and discovering radium, we persistently search for truth.
It seems that an axe has been taken to our search for knowledge of truth. We are always thirsty for knowledge and now we want weather knowledge because the clouds, wind and rain reign over us. Our ancient forbears, lacking knowledge, decided a god controlled the weather. They called the god Thor whose anger caused thunder and lightning.
Since our civilization has advanced knowledge through the invention of printing, then through our universities, colleges and culture of education, we have advanced knowledge of weather to the point of development to another level we now call climate. Climate knowledge is the accumulation of weather gathering information over time periods. When past events appear in patterns, certain predictions can be made.
Because of our inventions of satellites, balloons, laboratories and computers, future occurrences can be warnings of danger. Warnings protect us because we can prepare for danger and prevent disasters.
We can bar windows and doors, sandbag low areas and can evacuate our homes. Early warning to evacuate is a requirement for safety.
Our own government wants to take away this study of weather compiling knowledge into a system we call climate. Those who study results of wind, rain, snow, temperature and pressure recordings in locations worldwide plan for the safety of all of us.
Weather is not an angry god but is an occurrence of atmospheric conditions recorded on instruments and studied to protect us. Knowledge protects us.
Yet our own government is attacking our knowledge gathering system in Colorado called the National Center for Atmospheric Research and, as the Free Lance reports, plans to take it apart. That would be like bringing Thor back to life again.
Mary Zanger
Hollister
