“The air is thick with tension as we nervously await this historic moment. I’m Wanda Know reporting live where a crowd of thousands hope and pray that the world’s first time-traveler will return safely from the year 1601. We’re expecting the time machine to arrive any… wait… something seems to be materializing on the landing pad. Yes! The time machine has returned! The era-naut, Justin Tyme, has emerged from the capsule! Let’s see if we can get a few words.”
“Justin, what can you tell us?”
“Well, Wanda, it was quite a ride! You may remember that 1601 was smack dab in the middle of the era known as the ‘Little Ice Age,’ and boy, did those folks have it rough. The frigid weather wreaked havoc mainly because of the disruption to farm harvests, ruining ways of life that had lasted for centuries. This caused panics, uprisings, food riots and rebellions. Famine and disease spread widely devastating many cultures. There was even a spike in witch trials. In that pre-scientific world, folks wanted to blame their troubles on someone, why not witches?
“Many indigenous peoples had it even worse. Not only were they being invaded by colonial powers but many of the crops they’d cultivated for thousands of years just didn’t thrive in the colder climate.
“But get this. All that misery was caused by a decrease of less than 1 degree (0.6% of a degree) Celsius. By that measure, in 2025, we’re swinging pretty wildly in the other direction. Now we’re about 1.4 degrees Celsius hotter than the long-term average. Hoo Boy! My journey taught me that it doesn’t take much of a global temperature swing to cause a lot of problems. We’re already seeing those problems after years of record-breaking temperatures. Think of the destruction from last year’s hurricanes and the crazy wildfires this year.”
That night, Wanda thought about the huge changes our continuing use of fossil fuels is making to our way of life, most of them aren’t so great. The thing is, we have the technology and capacity to make the shift to clean energy sources to limit further atmospheric warming. “All we need now,” she thought, “is the will to make it happen. Act NOW and we might be just in time to avoid too much further damage to our only home where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
“Justin, what can you tell us?”
“Well, Wanda, it was quite a ride! You may remember that 1601 was smack dab in the middle of the era known as the ‘Little Ice Age,’ and boy, did those folks have it rough. The frigid weather wreaked havoc mainly because of the disruption to farm harvests, ruining ways of life that had lasted for centuries. This caused panics, uprisings, food riots and rebellions. Famine and disease spread widely devastating many cultures. There was even a spike in witch trials. In that pre-scientific world, folks wanted to blame their troubles on someone, why not witches?
“Many indigenous peoples had it even worse. Not only were they being invaded by colonial powers but many of the crops they’d cultivated for thousands of years just didn’t thrive in the colder climate.
“But get this. All that misery was caused by a decrease of less than 1 degree (0.6% of a degree) Celsius. By that measure, in 2025, we’re swinging pretty wildly in the other direction. Now we’re about 1.4 degrees Celsius hotter than the long-term average. Hoo Boy! My journey taught me that it doesn’t take much of a global temperature swing to cause a lot of problems. We’re already seeing those problems after years of record-breaking temperatures. Think of the destruction from last year’s hurricanes and the crazy wildfires this year.”
That night, Wanda thought about the huge changes our continuing use of fossil fuels is making to our way of life, most of them aren’t so great. The thing is, we have the technology and capacity to make the shift to clean energy sources to limit further atmospheric warming. “All we need now,” she thought, “is the will to make it happen. Act NOW and we might be just in time to avoid too much further damage to our only home where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
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