I know it’s easy for people to say, “We’ve had tornadoes before in Massachusetts,” and “The Mississippi always floods,” and “Vermont always floods.”  But come on, people, I know you see a pattern of bad weather that is not normal.  Flooding is one thing, but severe, continued flooding is another.  One tornado 60 years ago is one thing, but two large tornadoes in one day is another.  Lake Champlain in Vermont went beyond record flood stage this year, making a severe impact on the tiny state.

Perhaps it is fear and denial that is causing people to rationalize and justify the things that are going on instead of seeing the crazy train for what it is.  People are very afraid that they are going to have to change their lifestyles, and it almost seems that the more evidence they get of the consequences of their bad behavior, the more they cling to that behavior.

What’s funny is that I just read an article in Bloomberg Businessweek about the sad state of the U.S. Postal Service.  Without some serious restructuring, the whole U.S. postal system is on the verge of financial collapse.  Here’s the very end of the article:

“The implosion could happen this year because of the stalemate in D.C.  Maybe that’s what it will take for Americans to get a modern mail service.  Even [Patrick Donanoe, the current Postmaster General], who advocates something less, sounds as if he would welcome it because there’s no other way out. ‘Some people say if you crash the system,’ he says, ‘then people will pay attention to you.'”

I thought we were smarter than to have to crash our own environmental system, but maybe, deep down inside, we figure if we just overload the system and it collapses, only then can progress be made.  I had higher hopes for mankind, but maybe we are all just weak and human.