Title
Dylan’s Climate Story
Name
Dylan
Place
New Jersey
How are you sensing climate change?
A memory popped up on my Facebook timeline. In 2015, only five years ago, I made post that consolidated a few news stories on an impending snowstorm. Among the links was one to snowdaycalculator.com, a tool that I depended on since elementary school to gauge my expectations for a day off. If I remember correctly, that snowstorm was a bust. They usually are these days. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it indeed doesn’t snow all that much in New Jersey anymore. We may only be a few years away from blizzards becoming a has-been. I feel too young to comment on how things were “back in my day,” but the climate has changed enough for this to be necessary. We often talk about how we’re leaving this planet uninhabitable for future generations, but, even in the best case scenario, we’re leaving a scarred planet. Snow days aren’t significant in the scheme of things, and perhaps getting rid of them would solve some logistical problems for school districts nationwide. But I hate to think that any children I may have won’t be able to experience this simple pleasure. That feeling of being wonderfully held hostage by snow and wind. My parents and grandparents all had this experience, but at the rate things are going, one generation into the future will probably be enough time to remove this experience from the record. Climate change may give New Jersey milder, more tolerable winters, but there is very little warmth.
Collection
Northeastern Region
Citation
New Jersey, USA
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