The Eastern New Mexico News - Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

While much of the country has been slammed this winter with recordsetting lows,and recordsetting snows, we in the diagonal slice of the southwest that is apparently the recipient of

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pressure systems have continued in our drought conditions, and our unseasonable warmth. While some may delight in this, and some may see, with acrid alarm, the evidence of global warming and climate change, there are some very real and present side effects that have little to do with extremism.

Ski resorts throughout New Mexico and Colorado, as well as possibly Utah and the California mountains, have been having a tough time of it. Personally, I hate this, but even if skis aren't in your personal life choices, you have to be aware that it's a bad deal for businesses.

The effect on next summer's gardening and farming is yet to be seen. Of course, the water table will be atrocious, but I'm thinking, as well, of the bugs and bug eggs which will have not been killed, as a result of unseasonable warmth and few hard freezes.

Again, for me, there is a personal angle. I tilled up a whole lot of new area last fall, with the idea of getting serious about organic gardening in 2014. All of us, though, may well imagine that vegetable prices will rise. Only the unaware of news could fail to be aware of the problems faced by large scale farmers in California.

If you, like me, have spent a fair amount of time tuned in to the Olympics, you're doubtless aware that the weather in Sochi has not been conducive to the outdoor events. It didn't ruin the fun, but it sure does make you wonder what is going on.

Conjecture, with a reasonable amount of scientific estimation, holds forth the idea that there have been climate shifts and turnings for years. That will always be conjecture, since we have only been able to effectively observe for a few hundred years.

Several weeks ago, I asked my students what they thought about the above, as a critical thinking board work question. Allowing for the percentage who thought I meant the weather on that day, one of our few cold ones, and the other percentage who said the didn't care, some thoughtful and provocative responses were received.

We don't know what the future holds, and we have limited resources to alter anything, but its a cinch that flying blind will not be the wisest course.

Clyde Davis is a Presbyterian pastor and teacher at Clovis High School. He can be contacted at:

[email protected]