We don’t have air conditioning in our house.  So on sweltering summer days we close the windows, draw the shades to block the sun, and crank up the dehumidifier.  Once the evening air temperature drops below the house temperature, windows are opened wide and the coolness flows in.
            One recent evening Karen asked if it was time to open the windows.  After glancing at the weather station temp display, something inspired this odd reply, “Go ahead, we’ve crossed the equator.”  I meant that we had crossed that point where we could look forward to a cooler time ahead.
            Later, I pondered that odd response.  Maybe reaching that temperature “tipping point” in our house made me think about crossing into a new hemisphere where many things “flip” in interesting ways.  Storms circulate clockwise instead of counterclockwise.  Colder weather is in the south instead of the north.  Summer is winter, and winter is summer.  Penguins reign where no polar bears roam.
            “Crossing the equator” - it’s what our ship of humanity is doing in the energy sector.  The inevitable flip to clean energy is already well under way.  The evidence is over-whelming.  Take a look!

• Cheaper Energy Sources – In the last dozen years, utility scale solar power costs have dropped close to 90%!  In Wisconsin and elsewhere, it’s now the LEAST expensive source for electrical generation.
• Bi-Partisan Involvement – A recent Wisconsin State Journal editorial applauded Wis. Congressmen Ron Kind (D) and Mike Gallagher (R) for joining the 86-member Climate Solutions Caucus.  By design, this caucus is composed equally of Dems and Repubs.  Together, they are researching cost-effective ways to increase renewables and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Bottom-Up Leadership - States, counties, and municipalities in the U.S. are sometimes known as the “Non-Federal Actors.”  If you add together the GDPs of those that are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it represents the THIRD LARGEST economy in the world.  With or without federal leadership we’re sailing toward a new energy reality.
  
• Ahead of Schedule – California recently announced it has met its emission reduction goals 4 years early!

 
       Iowa County may soon be helping accelerate our journey “across the equator” with the installation of the largest solar farm east of the Mississippi.  That cleaner, cooler future is a destination we must reach because where else would we live?  This is our only home.  It’s where we’re forever…Earthbound.

       …And now it’s time for “Philmz on Films” our weekly movie review by Iowa County’s very own Seymore Philmz!
“It’s summer blockbuster time, and a thriller is coming your way soon!  Many of you will remember the 1978 sci-fi classic movie ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’  This latest spin-off takes our heroine, Wanda Koollov, on a globe-trotting adventure that’s sure to send chills up your spine!

       “The opening scene finds Wanda mopping perspiration from her brow in … Fairbanks, Alaska of all places!  Staring longingly at distant frozen mountain peaks, Wanda wonders how she’s ended up overheated in this northern clime.  She flashes back to her teenage self – Christmas 1984.  While snow gently falls outside, teenaged Wanda practices Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ dance moves in her bedroom.  As she ‘moonwalks’ down the hallway, the insidious chill snatching invasion’s tentacles are already grasping at all of Earth’s inhabitants!

       “Hopping back to 2018…Wanda leaps from adventure to adventure; each scene closes with Wanda haunted by the sensation that temperatures are slowly rising.  Little does she know that the ‘chill’ of the Earth is being methodically snatched from the atmosphere in a tenacious torrid trend.  The audience soon learns (Spoiler Alert!) that ever since that happy Christmas of her youth – exactly 400 months ago – across the globe, EVERY month’s temperatures have been above average!  And no wonder.  For hundreds of thousands of years carbon dioxide has acted like earth’s atmospheric blanket.  As such, it has averaged 275 parts per million(ppm).  Today, it’s much denser - a whooping 410 ppm!
 
       “This film is being released in Blu-ray format and includes the popular feature to ‘choose your own ending’ from three available screenplays. 

       “Ending ‘A’ – Earth’s inhabitants never really grapple with the reality that the ‘chill snatchers’ are not some alien invaders but humans themselves, releasing excessive greenhouse gasses by burning fossil fuels.  Temperatures continue to climb, forest fires and extreme weather events increase, the oceans rise, coral reefs bleach, and Wanda Koollov never does get to cool off.

       “Ending ‘B’ – Aliens extract Earth’s excess warmth to create energy for their spacecraft.  Temperatures return to normal.  Wanda becomes a dance instructor and marries her high school sweetheart.

       “Ending ‘C’ – Earth’s inhabitants responsibly take on the challenge of addressing the rising temperatures. Earth’s greenhouse gasses slowly revert to ‘humanity-friendly’ levels on this, our only home, where we're forever…Earthbound.”