What a rotten summer we are having here in the Lake Geneva region. In July, we had the worst weather since meteorological measures were recorded for the first time here, some 150 years ago. In fact, we have had bad weather since June. Although I do acknowledge that it feels a little out of place to be complaining about the weather when there are hundreds of people dying in wars or of hunger in various parts of the world, the change in the weather conditions here is pretty frightening, to me at least.
[View from home this evening]
Wait a moment, I was not about to say that this has necessarily to do with climate change. What I am saying is that it is frightening to me at least … It must also have an impact on the domestic economy: tourism, open-air recreational activities, agriculture, you name it, in addition to the millions in damages caused by flooding (more than CHF50m so far).
[Balcony tomatoes not very red … so far, i.e. 11 August 2014]
It has certainly had a detrimental effect on the vegetables we are growing on our balcony as they are far behind the stage of ripeness they were at this time last year.
However, what really scares me is the awful prospect of this blanket of lead spread as it were across the sky becoming a permanent or quasi-permanent fixture of our summers in the Lake Geneva region. Some scientists are warning us that this could be the case if even a limited nuclear war would break out between, say, India and Pakistan (see my entry on the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima). A very scary prospect, no? Let us hope that we can trust our so-called leaders, especially since they have failed us some many times in the past — one only has to think of the 20th century.
Links
Some articles in the local press