NATURE’S REVOLT

 

 

One thing about being old is you have seen a lot to use as comparison. 

 

We are all seeing unprecedented fires in the west and an unusual number and severity of storms in the Atlantic.  

 

However, I can account, on a more personal basis, changes that have been taken place during my lifetime.

 

As a school age child, I was raised in the Mississippi Delta.   There were no fire ants.   No one had ever heard of them.   A couple of decades ago I visited Mississippi and fire ant mounds were everywhere.

 

During the 1960’s, I was a survival instructor in Maine.   I hunted, fished and canoed all over the state.    I often slept on the ground and there were no ticks in Maine.   It wasn’t until I went to New Jersey in the early 1970’S that I was aware of the existence of ticks.   Now, ticks and subsequently lime disease, are a scourge in the Maine woods.  Moose and deer and other small animals are loaded with ticks.   Precautions have to be taken when kids and adults are outside.

 

During the 1970 I was attached to a squadron in the Navy that furnished an airborne platform (aircraft) for scientist measuring the thickness of Ice, ahead of an icebreaker attempting to make a trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic Ocean.   Now cruise ships offer regular sailings through the Northwest Passage. 

 

When I first went to Alaska in 1981, shore Ice on the north shore and magnificent glaciers were the norm.   When I was back in 2007 the glaciers had noticeably receded, and arctic villages were more dangerous from polar bears because the shore ice, which bears usually hunted on during the short summer months, was gone.

 

This day and age, it is not unusual to see bag worms in trees; but this summer there has been an explosion of bag worms.   I don’t mean double the amount, but many times over.  Many trees are covered with them.  I have never seen anything like this in all my years in Maine.  I wonder if this is the new norm?

 

Another sure sign of change is that man who appears in the mirror when I am in the bathroom is so fucking old looking.   How did that happen?

 

The Ol’Buzzard