Puddock Hill Journal #28: Collective slaughter comes easier than killing a single mouse.
We had our first frost warning of the season last night. Pam raced to cut the dahlias, resulting in lavish flower harvesting:
But the frost didn’t quite reach us, and there are no more warnings in the ten-day forecast. We’ll see what November brings.
As climate change progresses and we experience more of it directly, we tend to focus on the high temperatures of summer, but it’s the higher lows of winter that are most alarming to scientists. In short, the seasons are flattening in temperate climates, and a future without the winter bite to which native species of plant and animal are adapted may result in many unhappy consequences.
Yet, fall still arrives, and with it a familiar pattern of seasonal change. The days grow shorter as they always will, no matter how high atmospheric greenhouse gases climb. The deciduous trees and shrubs go bare. Berries stand out. Many birds depart, while other critters die or hibernate.