Forty years ago, and yes I’m old enough to remember that, the first snowfall of the year was no big deal. Heck, if we were lucky, we would get an inch or two, which we knew would be gone in a day or so as temperatures always rose shortly after and melted it all away. For that matter, I can remember a few Christmases with grass still visible on the ground. Not a great Christmas morning when Santa brought you a new sled or pair of short plastic strap on skis.
So here we are in 2019, and same as last year, the first snowfall is here to stay. In Quebec and Ontario, six to eight inches fell and the temperatures don’t seem to have any intention of helping get rid of it. In fact, it seems to me that since we bought our house in 2011, it’s been the same way every year. We always seem to have that “be ready or else” date of November 1st in mind.
For t hose of you who still think that climate change is a hoax, wake up and take a look around you. Oh sure, go ahead and debate the causes, impact level, and methods of mitigation all you want, but you simply can’t deny it any more. If you take a look at weather over the last five years and compare it to a five year block from the seventies, you will see a consistent and noticeable difference. This is what climate change looks like.
Far be it for me to predict the future, that’s not what I am here to talk about, but preppers certainly have to adapt to the new realities. In fact, Adapters may be the new buzzword instead or Preppers. You have all checked out C5’s blog and posts regarding the adaptors movement right? If not, go have a read now right here.
The impacts we can expect will pertain to shelter and food production mostly. We will likely need more fuel for heating, with wood being number one on my list as it is renewable and can be procured without infrastructure in place. Let’s not forget to really think out our growing season and carefully consider the growing season required for the foods we grow…perhaps that corn that needs 120 days to mature will no longer be a viable option in 10 years from now.
The times, they certainly are a changin’ and we had better start a changin’ with them.