A few days ago we woke up to a rainy morning here in Columbus, Ohio, and the words from the old Joni Mitchell song played in my head:
Rows and floes of angel hair, and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on every one...
...for which I'm thankful. For the raining and snowing on everyone, that is. If only it was raining and snowing on everyone. Or at least on everyone whose patch of earth needs it.
See, I, too, used to look at clouds and see ice cream castles and all that other stuff in the air. But now when I look at clouds they fill me with the hope of rain. Or even snow. These days water in any form falling from the sky is welcome to me. Now when I see the rain pouring down I think of underground aquifers soaking it up, water tables rising, reservoirs topping off, rivers, lakes and streams swelling. I think of water, the source of life on this planet, being replenished. And I wish the rain could be shared.
I especially wish the rain could be shared during that treacherous and treacherously absurd season created by climate change during which it's now the norm for the southern coast of the United States to be drowned by monster hurricanes at the same time as the West Coast is being consumed by drought-induced monster fires.
But here's the thing: I believe that humans, American humans especially, could invent a way to harness the rain brought by hurricanes and transform it from devastation for the South to salvation for the West.
Consider all the wonderful, incredible things we Americans have shown ourselves capable of constructing, including some three million miles of gas and oil pipelines that crisscross this country.
Is it so farfetched, then, to imagine three million miles of pipelines for transporting hurricane water from Florida and Texas to Oregon and California? Is it so farfetched to imagine vast systems of ground drains and pumps connected to vast systems of water evacuation connected to vast systems of pipeline connected to vast systems of water recovery and distribution?
I believe that we humans, so infinite in faculty, could without a doubt accomplish just such a feat of infrastructure. And some days I even find myself believing in the possibility that we might.
I guess I can't stop seeing those ice cream castles in the air.
Rows and floes of angel hair, and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on every one...
...for which I'm thankful. For the raining and snowing on everyone, that is. If only it was raining and snowing on everyone. Or at least on everyone whose patch of earth needs it.
See, I, too, used to look at clouds and see ice cream castles and all that other stuff in the air. But now when I look at clouds they fill me with the hope of rain. Or even snow. These days water in any form falling from the sky is welcome to me. Now when I see the rain pouring down I think of underground aquifers soaking it up, water tables rising, reservoirs topping off, rivers, lakes and streams swelling. I think of water, the source of life on this planet, being replenished. And I wish the rain could be shared.
I especially wish the rain could be shared during that treacherous and treacherously absurd season created by climate change during which it's now the norm for the southern coast of the United States to be drowned by monster hurricanes at the same time as the West Coast is being consumed by drought-induced monster fires.
But here's the thing: I believe that humans, American humans especially, could invent a way to harness the rain brought by hurricanes and transform it from devastation for the South to salvation for the West.
Consider all the wonderful, incredible things we Americans have shown ourselves capable of constructing, including some three million miles of gas and oil pipelines that crisscross this country.
Is it so farfetched, then, to imagine three million miles of pipelines for transporting hurricane water from Florida and Texas to Oregon and California? Is it so farfetched to imagine vast systems of ground drains and pumps connected to vast systems of water evacuation connected to vast systems of pipeline connected to vast systems of water recovery and distribution?
I believe that we humans, so infinite in faculty, could without a doubt accomplish just such a feat of infrastructure. And some days I even find myself believing in the possibility that we might.
I guess I can't stop seeing those ice cream castles in the air.
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