Happy Snow Moon to everyone, and especially to those of you who care about Global Warming and how it’s affecting our snow days. Another special shout-out to my fellow Latinos whose first snow marked their experience as American immigrants.
Read more: Snow Moon: Global Warming and My First Snow
Snow Moon and Global Warming
February’s full moon is named Snow Moon because this is our (the U.S.’s) snowiest month! Which I love, not only because my birthday is in February but also because it is my opinion that snow is very romantic, and so I hope for snow on Valentine’s day every year.
Anthropogenically Induced Climate Change
I feel I have an obligation as an advocate of environmental awareness to not forgo the mention of the climate crisis and how it pertains to snow. Regardless of your opinion on the weather, it is undeniable that our global climate has been increasing annually, arguably since the 1830s. The following graphic that I re-shared on my LinkedIn is a wonderful visual tool for comprehending to what extent, really, our temperatures have continued to rise.
That climate change is a normal occurrence in the history of our planet earth is not forgotten. (See: National Park Service’s article) However, climate change accelerated by anthropogenic causes is a well-studied phenomenon that must be acknowledged if not actively prevented. Even if you are well-versed in climate change and global warming, I recommend watching the videos below to refresh your knowledge and terminology so that you may engage in these important discussions more frequently and accurately. The first video explains how human activity accumulates greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, thereby heating our climate to higher levels at unusual rates and ultimately harming our plant- and wildlife, and the second paints a beautiful dystopian picture of our society’s collapse as a result.
My First Snow
Now that we’ve gotten the truly important topics out of the way, I can tell you about my first snow. The thing I was most fascinated by at the time was how powdery the snow was, and how my footsteps simply melted it away, leaving traces of my path. Today, I find the blinding reflection of sunlight on snow as one of the most refreshing experiences, as though I were a newborn exiting the womb to the bright light of the world. How poetic that the month I was born in is the month of the Snow Moon… and doubly so knowing that I was born in the southern hemisphere, making the symbolism a neat little paradox!
Check out these super awkward pictures of my first, rather meager, snow, wearing an unnecessarily thick coat.
Enjoy Your Snow!
If we are so lucky to even have a snow this year, and really any year hereafter, I hope and wish that you will take advantage of the opportunity and enjoy it in some way!
Here our snow days from last year and oh, how we played!
absgeller 
Leave a comment