When the Weather Becomes the Argument

When the Weather Becomes the Argument By Dale Jodoin Columnist I’ve been listening to the noise for years now. Every storm is proof of something. Every heat wave is a warning. Every cold snap is either evidence or denial depending on who’s talking. Snow falls in a place that “never” had snow before and suddenly it’s the end of the world. Then summer runs hot and dry and we’re told deserts are creeping closer. Turn on the television and it feels like the sky is either burning or about to freeze solid. It’s always urgent. Always dramatic. Always now. I’m not writing this as someone waving a sign. I’m writing this as someone who reads history before reading headlines. Because history has weather too. There was a time called the Little Ice Age. Winters stretched long and bitter across Europe. Rivers froze hard enough to walk across. Crops failed again and again. People starved quietly. In 1816, after Mount Tambora erupted, snow fell in June across parts of North America. They called it the Year Without a Summer. Farmers planted fields and watched everything die. Food prices soared. Anger followed hunger. That happened long before carbon taxes. Long before gas engines. Long before politicians learned how powerful environmental language could be. Then there were warmer centuries. The Medieval Warm Period allowed farming in places that later became too cold. Vikings settled Greenland. Vineyards stretched farther north. The planet has always moved in cycles, like breathing in and out. So when someone says the weather has never done this before, I slow down. That does not mean nothing is happening today. Temperatures have risen since the late 1800s. Arctic sea ice has declined in recent decades. Sea levels have edged upward. Satellites, surface readings, ice cores, they all show change. Most climate scientists agree that human industry, especially fossil fuel use, contributes to warming. That part deserves honesty. But honesty must run both ways. What unsettles people is not the data. It’s the tone. Every flood becomes proof of collapse. Every wildfire becomes a moral judgment. Every question becomes denial. Regular families are not sitting at kitchen tables debating atmospheric chemistry. They are trying to afford groceries. They are watching heating bills climb in winter. They are feeling fuel costs ripple through everything they buy. When policies meant to save the planet raise everyday costs, people notice. They notice when carbon pricing shows up on their bills. They notice when farmers say input costs are rising. They notice when governments speak of sacrifice while global emissions continue rising elsewhere. Canada tightens. Parts of Europe tighten. Meanwhile China emits more total carbon than any other nation. India grows. The United States remains high on a per person basis. Global emissions do not disappear just because one country sets targets. That tension fuels frustration. It is fair to ask whether policies are effective. It is fair to ask whether they are balanced. It is fair to ask whether working families are carrying more weight than large industrial players. What is not fair is shutting down those questions. Yes, the climate changes naturally. Yes, humans now influence it. Both can be true. Oceans shift heat across the planet. Solar cycles rise and fall. Volcanoes inject particles into the sky. These forces still exist. Climate systems are complex. They do not respond to one cause alone. We have also heard dire warnings before. Acid rain would destroy forests forever. The ozone hole would bring catastrophe. A coming ice age was once discussed. Some environmental concerns were real and addressed. Others were exaggerated. The world did not end. That history makes people cautious. There are claims about secret weather control programs spraying the skies. There is no solid, credible evidence supporting large scale secret operations controlling daily weather patterns. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Without that proof, they remain claims. There are debates about lab grown meat, methane from cattle, new technologies aimed at reducing emissions. Those discussions deserve transparency. Long term effects should be studied carefully. Innovation should not move faster than understanding. But fear should not be the engine. Fear makes people compliant. Fear moves markets. Fear wins elections. If you tell citizens the planet will collapse within a decade, they may accept policies without scrutiny. If you tell them disagreement equals ignorance, they may stop speaking. A healthy society does the opposite. It questions loudly. It reads broadly. It allows disagreement without exile. We are not fragile creatures waiting for extinction. Humanity has survived ice ages, plagues, revolutions, failed harvests, and wars. We have endured heat and cold, drought and flood. We adapt. We build differently. We learn from mistakes. What we cannot survive is intellectual laziness. Blind denial helps no one. Saying there is no warming at all ignores strong evidence. Blind acceptance helps no one either. Accepting every policy as necessary without examining costs and benefits weakens democracy. The truth lives in the middle, uncomfortable and complicated. The climate is changing. Humans influence it. Natural cycles continue. Governments respond. Some responses are sensible. Some are flawed. Some may be more about revenue than results. That deserves scrutiny. Plant a tree if you want. Recycle because you care. Conserve energy where it makes sense. Protect your land and water because they belong to your children. But keep your mind active. Read history. Read science. Read independent voices. Notice who profits from the alarm. Notice who profits from denial. Notice who becomes wealthier while ordinary people tighten their belts. Balance is strength. We will survive warming years and cooling years. We will survive new technologies and flawed policies. We will survive loud headlines and political speeches. But survival with dignity requires vigilance. A free country does not demand silence. It demands engagement. Ask questions never accept what a government is giving you because they're getting comfortable making money off your hard work