These Summer Days

On July 27, Northern News Now reported that Duluth had a heat index of 101 degrees, with Eveleth hitting 104 and Two Harbors reaching 106. Three days earlier, the lead story on NNN was about Minnesota having another air-quality alert due to the Canadian wildfires. It was also the 27th day that Duluth had been under an air-quality alert since May.

And then three days before that, on July 21, Wisconsin Public Radio ran a story about the Great Lakes region warming up about 3 degrees and precipitation increasing by 15%. A study by the Environmental Law and Policy Center showed that summer water temperatures on Lake Superior warmed up by 4.8 degrees between 1979 and 2023. Also, the region would likely see more extreme weather patterns, including 30 to 60 days of temperatures over 90 degrees.

Also, on July 21, there was an article in the New York Times headlined “Climate change is making fire weather worse for world’s forests.” According to a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the area of forests lost to fire in 2023 and 2024 was at least two times greater than the annual average of the previous two decades. It reported that climate change is making severe fire weather more common around the world.

And on July 22, Climate and Economy linked to stories reporting that there was heavy rainfall and flooding in Moscow which broke the precipitation record of 1879, southern Italy faced an intense heatwave, 43% of Nigeria’s land was experiencing greater desertification, Doha in Qatar recorded a heat index of 133 degrees Fahrenheit, and floods and landslides hit Fuzhou, China after receiving 11.65 inches of rain in 12 hours.

For those of us who live in Duluth, it’s becoming clearer each day that our city, like the rest of the world, is being affected by climate change and extreme weather events. As projected in the 2018 climate vulnerability assessment for Duluth, as well as other regional and global reports, we have already seen the growth of microplastics and algae blooms in Lake Superior as it continues to get warmer, more smoke and air-quality alerts from the Canadian wildfires, more droughts and other extreme weather events, and warmer summer days. It has become a climate reality for all of us.

For most people, it’s fight or flight when it comes to the climate crisis. There are those who want to fight climate change and there are just as many of us who fear even the mention if not a conversation about what is considered an existential threat to living on this planet. But I’m beginning to wonder, if not already realize, that we can’t just fight or fly away in fear from climate change.

We need to face it straight on with our eyes wide open. We need to really be open, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually, to exploring what climate change could teach us about living in this new world with a greater sense of clarity, compassion, critical thought and creativity. Climate change is not the enemy we want to believe in but is truly an opportunity to reconsider and then reclaim a more mature approach to living on earth.

These summer days, I look at everything that is happening and then ask myself how these climate events can inform my decisions and choices. Ask myself how I can become a more responsible and resilient citizen in this climate-change world. And ask myself how to lead a more sustainable life through living slower, smaller and simpler.

When it comes to taking care of the gardens and lawns of the houses with the Loaves and Fishes community, I have chosen to no longer use electric or gas-powered tools. I use a manual mower and simple hand tools. And I use my hands to plant flowers and pull weeds.

When it comes to getting around town, I choose to walk and sometimes take the bus. When it comes to buying groceries, I use my backpack and leave the plastic bags at the store. And when it comes to any activity, I will slow down and pace myself.

So many of our leaders are talking about new government policies and programs, along with better business initiatives and investments. But it will ultimately come down to the choices and decisions that you and I make every day to better understand, appreciate and respect what climate change is trying to tell us.

Here in Duluth, we can use these summer days to live with a deeper sense of gratitude for our relationship with nature and the planet, while also finding more ways to be connected to and generous to others and all living things.