Columns

While climate scientists and politicians have so far focused primarily on carbon dioxide emissions, the looming threat of not reducing climate warming in the needed speed with the growing risk of irreversible changes that threaten our livable future on planet Earth, have not only ignited and brought various innovations and new environmental efforts on the way, but also a closer look at greenhouse gases in comparison. With methane being the second largest greenhouse gas, accounting for 16% of global emissions, and 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere in a 20-year period, as well as having a way shorter lifespan with just 12 years versus carbon dioxide, which remains in the atmosphere for thousand plus years, this new focus makes sense and gives new hope.

“This phenomenon has come on very suddenly and may be catching a lot of school districts unprepared and unsure what to do.”

The tornado that occurred in Delaware County late Thursday night, March 14, caused severe damage to homes and barns and downed many trees, causing electricity outages. At Stratford Ecological Center on Liberty Road, the tornado jumped up and down through our extensive woodland, taking out three dozen big trees. The Education and Farm buildings were outside the tornado’s path. The west wall of the barn took a strong battering from the wind, as daylight is now visible between the boards. The wooden shade structure in the Back Yard blew over, and on a lighter note, the porta potty on the lane.

For the last year, we’ve been fighting to stop a proposed Department of Energy rule that would have put the supply chain for transformers at risk and threatened hundreds of Ohio steel jobs.

In the last article I wrote, I closed by using a quote I had found in one of my quote books. Since several persons commented on how much they liked it, I decided to use all quotes for this week.

My journey to the April 8 solar eclipse began in a Kroger parking lot at Polaris in northern Columbus. We were a motley crew of seasoned eclipse chasers, astrophotographers, and eclipse newbies, 46 astronerds strong.

Another memorable concert of the Central Ohio Symphony took place on Sunday, March 17. A broad panoply of composers, musicians, and musical styles was represented. For traditionalists, listening to Dvořák’s dramatic Symphony No. 7 in D minor was a moving experience. The second half of the concert was dominated by lively Hispanic and Latin American rhythms and tunes, exemplified by trumpeter Pacho Flores.

In any location of the Delaware County District Library, we track foot traffic – that is, the amount of people who come through our doors every day. Did you know that our website has a similar tracking mechanism also called “traffic?” Everyone who stops by the library website at www.delawarelibrary.org is also accounted for, just like those who walk into our buildings.

“Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.”

The sixth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a colossal work over eight years compiled data by the world’s leading climate scientists from around the globe, ends with a bitter clear language: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future of all … at the latest before 2025.”