We Need to Understand That the Sky Goes Green
~ ZZ Troutski
126 days of peace. That is the number, according to the Weather Channel, that is in the books when it comes to America not having to deal with a tornado incident so large that it not only took homes and buildings but, took lives.
Everyone talks about the sky turning green, which it does, before the tornado falls. And it is more and more apparent that
Photo by Katherine Boyd
we need to work harder when it comes to saving our environment; discarding the ‘old ways’ that are not working and are simply adding to the problems. In other words, WE need to go green to perhaps help stop the sudden green hue of the skies from forming.
It was only three years ago that a Little Rock, Arkansas suburb called Vilonia was hit and hit hard by Mother Nature. And yesterday, in that very same spot, three years later, a powerful tornado stayed down on the ground for eighty miles, destroying many northern suburbs of Little Rock yet again, with sixteen people losing their lives during this horrific weather event.
Unfortunately, for all of us these debris scenes and pictures on all weather and news stations this morning are not new. A brand new $14 million-dollar school is gone – just like that, looking like nothing more than a landfill. Huge vehicles were picked up and twisted around one another, scattered across the ground by nothing more than wind.
As Little Rock gets sunshine to see clearly the horrendous destruction all around, other states are looking at major flood watches, as well as the chance that another tornado can come along in someplace new. This extreme rash of tornados and heavy storms are not over, says the National Weather Service, warning that the path is expected to continue throughout today across the South and Mississippi Valley.
Numbing is the word for something like this. It is almost a Stephen King novel – something nightmarish, but should never be real. With the way our world looks at the moment, however, our weather is nothing like that of a novelist’s imagination, it is all too real and is getting worse. The footage of Interstate 40 is a frightening wreck, with the President calling States of Emergencies as residents try to search for everyone missing.
In this particular instance, the environmental impact is huge, with officials making sure it does not grow even more difficult by cutting off all power and utilities to avoid chances of fire.
The news we must all take in when watching these headlines is not the debris and destruction, however. It is the point we MUST learn that tornados are not a freak occurrence as they were once thought to be – waiting for the right combination of jet streams, heat, cold, and moisture in order to be created. Nor are they a celestial or religious event, as some believe. They are NOT random.
There are an average of 4.5 tornados per tornado day. There are constant teams and crews out there looking for them, trying to pre-warn everyone around that they are about to fall. Although this technology has gotten better over the decades, it is not full-proof and never will be. Trying to track Mother Nature is like trying to track a unicorn – she has proven the ability to do what she wants when she wants to, and disappear back up into the sky.
Our environment has problems. The changes in air quality, water quality, jet streams – you name it – are issues that all people everywhere have created over time. If you do not believe this, just look at the severe environmental changes occurring over the past twenty-five years or longer.
And, no, we cannot change anything that happened back in the 1920’s on up. We can not close down factories, stop cutting down trees, stop clearing the way for suburbia to grow – that chance is over. Those decisions were made with no thought about what the future could bring, and they can not be taken back. What we can do is try our very best to change our own daily lives in order to help prevent the earth from crumbling, shifting, and transforming into a deadly place to live.
Our overabundances and our ability to overlook various ways to go ‘green’ is what makes that sky green and brings on a roar that can never be forgotten.
126 days of peace is not enough. It is time to change!
