WEEK 48 Nov 13th to 19th

   YORK AND OTHER AUTUMN PORTENTS

   As the city of York and major parts of Great Britain are recovering from the most devastating and extensive flood in centuries, as winter is abstaining, again, (as it has most years the last decade), all over Europe, in spite of fact that the sun is hardly rising above the horizon, a cold, true fear is spreading among the population. Even leaders more often than not, eagerly supporting reckless industrial endeavors, give voice to their fear. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is caught saying: "We must stop ignoring the issue of Global Warming. The release of Green House gases has been treated like a non-issue in international forums". A statement pretty darn amazing considering the Kyoto-treaty and all the self-satisfactory back patting done in its wake.
   York was flooded completely. Britain itself has been described as a swamp swamped with water. The ground was saturated with it. During a given period of several days any new raindrop was adding to the flood, because there was nowhere for the water to go.
   A nuclear power plant in France was temporarily shut down.
   It's November 13th. In Northern Europe 30 years ago the first snow used to arrive in the middle of October. Now, the grass is still green and growing, cut not so long ago. The days are warm, the nights are warm, the wind is warm. A recent climate conference in Bergen, Norway concluded with the statement: "There is no longer serious doubt that the human created Global Warming is a reality. Theories are confirmed by fact. And theories have been adjusted twice since the report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) only five years ago. Earlier we were talking about a 4 degrees Celsius rise in average global temperature during this century. Now we're looking at, at least twice that. There will be more rain, there will be more drought, stronger winds and generally more chaotic weather patterns. 8 to 9 degrees Celsius is the worst-case scenario, but let us remember that half that was the worst-case scenario ten years ago. We're looking at a possibly geometric increase here and quite frankly there's no telling where it might end".