Jim Murray

7 years ago · 3 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Everybody Complains About The Weather. Who Am I To Blow Against The Wind?

Everybody Complains About The Weather. Who Am I To Blow Against The Wind?

Murray + Creative Director
Onwords & Upwords Inc. &
beBee Brand Ambassador
I am a communications professional,
arily a strategist & writer. I work with
small to mid sized businesses, designers,

art/creative directors & consultants to
ate results driven, strategically focused
mmunications in all on & offline media.

Iam also a communications mentor,
lyricist & prolific op/ed beBee blogger.
: 416 463-3475 + Bmail: onandup3@gmail com » Skype: jimbobmur6l

It’s Monday night. Almost Tuesday. I was just looking at the weather channel and it’s not good news. Sunny and humid with humidex values in the low 40s from Tuesday to Friday and maybe beyond.
As weather goes, this basically sucks. What it means is that you have to breathe a lot of air conditioned air for the next four days. It means that if you go outside even for 5 minutes, you get to come back in feeling like you need a shower. It means that spending any substantial amount of time outside will drain your batteries and make you want to just lay down somewhere cool and dark until it’s all over.
I know that there are places in the world where this kind of weather is pretty commonplace. But honestly, I don’t give a shit. I live here in the Great White North, and we like our weather a certain way.
People who live in countries like Saudi Arabia, India and the Philippines have adapted to that kind of heat and humidity because it’s what they have been used to all their lives.|

It’s Soooo UnCanadian

But Canadians aren’t built that way.
We’re into idyllic summer days in the high 20s with low humidity. We’re into layers, and drinking our beer out on the patio until the snow flies. We’re into cooler by the lake. And never being too far below the jet stream.
This summer heat and humidity does nothing but piss us off. Road rage incidents go through the roof in this weather. So does domestic violence because everybody’s bitchier than usual. And the sleeping? Forget about it. The sleep deprived or walking dead, are everywhere.
I know a few people who love this weather. But for most of them it’s love by default, because they hate winter with a passion. I know some other people who love this weather, but they are certifiably nuts.
My wife, who is asthmatic, isn’t exactly terrified by this kind of weather, but she does start to feel like a bit of a prisoner in her own home whenever it comes along.
Oh sure, we’re comfortable in here and suitably sympathetic to people who don’t have air conditioning. But for us, it’s a necessity as opposed to a luxury. A deceased wife is not something I want to contemplate for quite a while yet.

Weather Vs Climate Change

If you’re not a Republican climate change denier, then you understand that this erratic pattern of extreme heat in the summer and pretty nasty cold in the winter is really the first indication that life going forward is not going to be the same for us hearty Canadians, or anyone else for that matter, weather wise.
And I personally believe that what we’re experiencing here is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
It would be nice to think that the world is intent on doing something to reverse, or at the very least, arrest climate change. But if you think about how little actually gets achieved in the world when it comes to things that don’t make huge profits for mega corporations, it’s easy to become cynical about this.
There’s also a school of thought that says that the climate change cycle we appear to be entering has very little to do with the human factor, but is really part of a cycle that the planet goes through as a matter of course over however long it’s been here. Remember the Ice Age?
If you follow that line or reasoning you start to understand that it’s not the planet that’s in danger…it’s us. The only good news here is that if this is a natural change, it will take a considerable amount of time for it to really get cranked up.
But along the way, there will be hell to pay for us. Because it doesn’t really matter what causes climates change, the results will still be the same regardless.

The Elusive Why

A lot of us, especially those who are religious, see this as the work of a vengeful god. Many of the rest of us just shrug and think maybe were are just a bunch of very tiny pawns in nature’s game.
There is no definitive answer to the question of what causes climate change. Just as there is no definitive answer to a lot of the big questions we have about the world and or the universe we live in.
When you think about it, that makes sense, because relative to the age of the earth we have only been around for a short span of time. How could we possibly understand a planet that is millions of years old when we have only been thinking about it for a couple thousand of those years?
I have always believed that the express lane to insanity is easily entered by worrying yourself to death about things you can’t really understand or control. I thank my university Philosophy profs for that.
In the meantime, all we can do is contribute in whatever ways we can to live sensibly, get people interested in helping in any way they can and supporting and promoting anybody who has a cleaner and smarter way forward.
All we can do is what we can do.

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All content copyright 2016 Jim Murray.



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Comments

Jim Murray

7 years ago #17

#23
Andrew Porter. That sums it up nicely. But I think we have an obligation to keep the planets as clean as we can for the sake of our own personal health.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #16

#20
I can't recall the guys name. But he grew up with Simon, and they have been writing together for almost 50 years.

Pascal Derrien

7 years ago #15

#19
That's a good one :-)

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #14

#17
I did not know that Jim Murray. I am always amazed at how Paul could take the most obscure phrases (e.g. Diamonds on the soles of her shoes) and make them entirely sensible. I agree that being a lyricist partner to such an artist would be a sweet gig.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #13

#13
We have a saying in many parts of Canada. If you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes. Pascal Derrien

Jim Murray

7 years ago #12

#14
Lisa Gallagher...This is a slow and insidious process. People keep saying that the time is running out to do something. I personnally think that time ran out 20 years ago or more. We will adapt or we will go away, I guess.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #11

Kevin Pashuk...Yeah, Graceland is a near perfect album. There's a whole lot of life lessons in every song. Did you know that Paul Simon actually has a lyricist partner who never gets any mention, but half the royalties. That would be my dream job.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #10

#12
Totally agree with that, as a couple million aboriginal Brazilians will tell you. Their habita has been decimated and continues to be, and it's all about greed. Praveen Raj Gullepalli

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #9

Thanks for the earworm Jim Murray... Paul Simon's Graceland album is still one of my all time favourites, even though it's over 25 years old now. The title of your post is nicely embedded in the song "I Know What I Know"... which might be the muse for another post...

Lisa Gallagher

7 years ago #8

I keep telling people this humid weather which seems to be the norm for summers anymore, even in the NE US is more like Floridian weather. At least give me the ocean if I have to endure this thick blanket of moisture ;-) I agree, climate change is a factor and I just read an article about new diseases on the rise in water because of global warming. They are finding ( I forget the words used), I will just say nasty bugs.. in the water in Alaska now, things that were never a concern that far up. I feel sorry for people who don't have A/C, it's almost as if it's becoming a necessity vs. a luxury​.

Pascal Derrien

7 years ago #7

I always love a good weather conversation it is actually almost a national sport here in Ireland, the forecast bulletin on RTE is always entertaining providing we can have up to four seasons in one day, in the west in Galway they have a saying that it does rain at least .....once a day as far as climate change the weather is so messed up and changeable......excuse for interrupting this comment but I have to put on my sunnies away and put my rain jacket away :-)

Dean Owen

7 years ago #6

#9
That's really the issue isn't it. We are all bombarded with reports that, taken alone, might make perfect sense. In truth, we are in the dark. Thanks Jim Murray

Jim Murray

7 years ago #5

#8
Dean Owen. I read an article a while back by Michael Crichton in which he reported that only about 3% of the world's greenhouse gases were attributable to fossil fuel emissions. He said that the overwhelming majority of these emissions were being produced mainly through volcanic action, which is currently running at an all time high. This leads me in the direction of and earth-directed climate change theory. I can't recall where he got his data. But the article made a lot of sense to me. The numbers are probably off. But I have seen reports that there is major seismic and volcanic activity along all the world's major fault lines. My bottom liner opinion is that it always about more than one thing. Converting the world to renewable energy sources and minimizing the amount of fossil fuel being consumed can't be a bad thing. But there are even downsides there. My associate Rahul Pereira who is heavy into the automotive business told me last week, that in about 5 years from now, all the radioactive batteries powering Tesla vehicles will be dead, except for their radioactivity, and someone is going to have to figure out how to deal with that, because these batteries currently cannot be reused or recycled.

Dean Owen

7 years ago #4

Much as I loved living in Singapore for 9 years, I did miss the seasons - Imagine Christmas in the tropics. I sometimes wonder how the World would look now if Al Gore had become president. Would he have even slightly dented the course of climate change or is it altogether just beyond the control of humans. Would love to hear your thoughts Jim Murray

Jim Murray

7 years ago #3

#1
I got burned out on travel when I was a photographer back in the 70s. Day trips or one night overnighters is about it for me.

Randy Keho

7 years ago #2

I'll take global warming year 'round. If my parents hadn't been in need, I'd still be living in Phil Friedman's neighborhood in Florida. While you're snug in your igloo this February, I'll be up to my ass in snow and suffering from 20-below temperatures. Now, where's that aerosol can?

Graham🐝 Edwards

7 years ago #1

A really nice buzz Jim Murray. I can't wait until fall because as you say, this heat is "unCanadian". I really like this line... "In the meantime, all we can do is contribute in whatever ways we can to live sensibly, get people interested in helping in any way they can and supporting and promoting anybody who has a cleaner and smarter way forward."

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