{"id":2218,"date":"2017-03-22T14:34:59","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T18:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoodcomstudies.com\/theblueandgrey\/?p=2218"},"modified":"2017-03-22T14:47:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T18:47:47","slug":"the-great-winter-that-didnt-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/22\/the-great-winter-that-didnt-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"The great winter… that didn\u2019t happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cherryblossom2print[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Winter is coming. Winter is here. Winter is\u2026 over? At least, that\u2019s what it feels like.
\nDuring the time of year when students are normally bundling up, dreading the cold and reining in the snow days, the 2017 winter months have seen a change of pace. Short sleeves and summer dresses have replaced wools coats and scarves, and what should be the coldest time of the year has been feeling like the warmest.
\nWhile the possibility of a few snow days is still there, the traditional coldest months of the year are quickly slipping away from us. It\u2019s looking like we might not have a winter this year.
\n\u201cThis is a really warm year, and we\u2019ve had a number of really warm years and warm winters in the last decade, like record breaking kind of things,\u201d Professor Eric Annis said, an associate professor of biology who teaches multiple undergrad and grad classes related to Ecology and climate change.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know off the top of my head how many of the warmest winters of record we\u2019ve had over the last decade, but it\u2019s a lot. And that\u2019s on record since maybe the 1850s,\u201d Annis said.
\nAccording to Annis, the main difference between climate and weather is that weather happens on a short-term scale, whereas climate deals with things on a decadal scale. He said that one of the most immediate impacts this weather could have would be a negative harvest for places which are blooming now, but could very well die if a hard frost comes in the next few months.
\n\u201cIt has problems, even if it\u2019s very comfortable for a lot of people,\u201d he said.
\nMany students seem to agree that while enjoyable, the warm weather of the last few months is worrisome.
\n\u201cI definitely do not like this warm weather,\u201d Kaylene Wright, a senior said. \u201cBecause however nice warm weather is, I am not satisfied with the winter yet. I really want there to be snow.\u201d
\nAdditionally, Wright believed this weather could have a negative impact on the world at large. \u201cObviously I\u2019m not an environmental scientist, but this does seem to go with the trend that we keep having hottest years on record,\u201d she stated.
\nMolly Masterson, also a senior, agreed with Wright, saying \u201cIt is absolutely horrible and you should all be terrified, because the world is actually going to end. I\u2019m not kidding. Everyone is like, \u2018yay we can wear shorts.\u2019 No. You\u2019re going to be on fire in a year.\u201d
\nHowever, not all students are adverse to the recent warmer weather. \u201cI really like it, cause it\u2019s warm and I hate the cold,\u201d Beth Montague, a junior, said. While Montague has been taking advantage of the high temperatures, she does acknowledge the threats this weather poses.
\n\u201cI know it\u2019s terrible for the environment,\u201d she said, \u201cand that global warming is terrible and we\u2019re all probably going to die. But I like it while we have it.\u201d
\nStudents are not the only ones enjoying the warm weather. Although President Chapdelaine is worried about the weather, she also has found things to like.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s great, because as the president, calling snow days is the absolute worst part of the job,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really hard call to make and it seems like you can never get it right. Somebody is going to be upset. So as a president, I\u2019m loving it.\u201d
\nDespite her enthusiasm for not calling snow days, she does agree that the weather has negative implications. \u201cOn a personal note, I really miss winter,\u201d Chapdelaine said. \u201cI think there is ample evidence that we have climate change going on, and I worry. We should all do what we can to support our environment. Try to do our part.\u201d
\nChapdelaine also joked, \u201cI do think that the weather has been so warm, we should probably have had an anti-snow day,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I figure I\u2019d get in trouble for that too, if I just said, on account of beautiful weather in February, let\u2019s just cancel class!\u201d
\nAccording to Annis, it is important for individuals to get involved and find out what they can do, because we do have an impact.
\n\u201cOne of the most important parts of climate change, which is driven by human impact and human factors, is the amount of CO2 and methane that we emit on a per-capita basis,\u201d Annis said. \u201cSo, how much does each person on a daily basis release into the environment?\u201d
\nAnnis stressed the importance of becoming educated on the subject, and encourages everyone to look into the Union of Concerned Scientists, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He believed that citizens must understand the issue so that they can vote against it.
\n\u201cVote for candidates that understand there is a problem and that we need to fix it,\u201d he said.
\nHe believes that misinformation poses a large threat to the world regarding climate.
\n\u201cMost of the controversy that people talk about in the media is fabricated,\u201d Annis said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a very strong opposition that has been mounted to the science behind it, but there\u2019s really no controversy within the scientific community that this is happening. It\u2019s very quick and very easy to just say bad things about the science without any foundation. And we need to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter is coming. Winter is here. Winter is\u2026 over? At least, that\u2019s what it feels like. During the time of year when students are normally bundling up, dreading the cold and reining in the snow […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":2237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2257,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions\/2257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblueandgrey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}