Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Fire in Colorado
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost
Fires are now raging in almost every part of Colorado (where I live). Yesterday 35,000 people were ordered to evacuate in and near Colorado Springs, where untold acres of land are burning. To the north, one of the biggest fires ever recorded in the state's history is still flaming, and the news is that it will burn all summer. Not until fall will it end, when Mother Nature will take care of it. It is beyond human control.
Yesterday in the late afternoon lightning started yet another fire, this one near (about 10 miles) from where I live. I could see the smoke billowing behind the mountains that I look at each morning with pleasure. This morning the smoke was gone, and I am hoping that this means the fire is under control.
These fires are the end result of a sequence--first, no substantial rain for many months (years, actually). This drought left the pine trees vulnerable to the pine beetles, which ravaged the forests and left many dead trees in their wake. These trees became dry tinder for fire, including sparks from lightning strikes. In all, the land was ripe for "the perfect fire," and now we are experiencing conflagrations which are described as of "epic proportions."
Was the prolonged drought which began the sequence a result of global warming? Are the massive rains in Florida also the result of weather disturbances resulting from the same cause (global warming)? Katrina? The great Japanese tsunami? Is global warming now producing global catastrophe? Are we now into the dire period predicted for 2012?
I do not know the answer to these questions. I know that our earth was granted to us as a precious charge, and that we must be careful stewards of the land if it and we are to survive.
Hold to your practice. Hold to your prayers. Hold especially to your friends who will help support you as we move through this crisis.
