Overheard:

“We’ve had a lot more severe weather than usual.”

“These storms have people in my neighborhood talking.”

“I’m planning on getting more self sufficient, little by little, until we’re off grid completely.”

“Every time we get one of these lengthy power outages, I want to put up more food and prepare for the worst.”

“Climate change? What climate change? It’s just environmental jihad.”

With the exception of the last one, all of these people were noticing climate change.  None are my own quotes, no matter how much they sound like me. Most were my coworkers, in fact. We’ve all noticed the changing climate, and we’ve also noticed how the major events are changing people.

None of us are survivalists, radicals, preppers, or the so-called Environmental Jihad. Ahem, maybe we do resemble the last one. But seriously, peoples. One teacher talked about her neighborhood having a block party, the first in years – maybe the first ever. During the August storm, neighbors talked to neighbors and realized they didn’t spend enough time socializing with those who lived nearby. Her neighborhood decided to do something about it.

I, too, was reminded how much I like my neighbors. Despite the huge tree leaning on their house, they were turning on their camp stove and calling me over for coffee. I don’t think we’re up for a block party yet, though. Feelings still run high about the Lorax and her influence on the Powers That Be.

So while we’re on the subject, folks, take a look at the book Life As We Knew It. Apocalyptic rather than dystopian, it did put me in the survivalist frame of mind. How would we cope if suddenly the world changed?

On a positive note, I’ve been busy bartering. Yep, good old fashioned barter. I swapped dill seed for zucchini (yeah, yeah, I know she would have given away the zucchini no matter what) and in a similar vein, I swapped a handful of rhubarb for a bucket of pears.

Maybe you’re reading this ramble and asking, Daisy, what’s your point? I’ll toss it back to you: what changes have you made in your life and what changes have you noticed in others? If you wrote the “overheard” section at the top of the page, what have you overheard about climate change? And finally, how would you react?