As a child, I can recall that unless one was a farmer or a sailing enthusiast, talk of the weather was “small talk”—never much more than a way to hold a polite yet impersonal conversation. Today, dangerous record setting cold temperatures like those experienced now in WNY and throughout our nation, have made weather a serious topic of conversation. The vast majority of scientists and climatologists (over 90 percent of all publishing scientists) have accepted that unstable and destructive weather is the result of massive, unprecedented emissions of fossil fuel by-products into the the earth’s atmosphere.

In light of this, the old expression “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody can do anything about it,” might have been true once, but the opportunity exists for us to do something about it now. Although the problem of global warming seems huge, complicated and overwhelming, if small and incremental changes are adopted by large numbers of people, those small incremental changes will begin to make a very significant impact.

Individuals and institutions can reduce their contribution of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, by switching to cleaner alternative energy sources for electricity. This timely message arrives in WNY this week in the form of The Grassroots Solution: A Solar Home Companion, an old-fashioned variety show with music, stories and Americana which informs the audience how to choose renewable energy sources and how to organize for a sustainable future. Conceived and directed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning Josh Fox, and co-hosted by Zephyr Teachout, law professor and former gubernatorial candidate, the show will be in Buffalo this Sunday, sponsored by some of the many activist groups who are all working to help “do something about the weather” by working together to find many ways to support renewable energy and to minimize the catastrophes caused by an unstable climate.

> Joan Hyman, Buffalo

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