Since last October, when the Met. Office decided to launch the 'Name Our Storms' project, the UK has been visited by no less than five turbulent, unruly storms. In less than three months we've suffered the buffeting of Abigail, Barney, Clodagh, Eva and, most recently, Frank.
Nor is there peace in sight. Gertrude, it seems, is already gaining strength on the far side of the Atlantic.
Nonetheless, whilst the damage we've experienced in this country has been devastating, it pales in comparison with what's been going on elsewhere.
Did you know that over 750,000 people have been evacuated in the Philippines, forced from their homes on account of violent typhoons and flooding?
Or that a similar number of people have been evacuated in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay?
I'm sure you've heard that the USA has been blown apart by bush fires in California, typhoons in Texas, tornadoes in Dallas, flooding in Missouri and Illinois, not to mention the severe snowstorms that have been experienced elsewhere. Nor has the souther hemisphere been exempt, bush fires have ravaged south-eastern Australia, and the Northern Territory has suffered severe flooding.
On top of which, stirred up no doubt by all the excitement elsewhere, Mount Etna, on the coast of Sicily, has just chosen to erupt.
Why the dramatic weather conditions? We're told about El Nino, but shouldn't we be thinking about our relationship with the planet we inhabit?
Isn't it true that we take Earth for granted?
We exploit it . . . abuse it . . . destroy it . . . and never pause to think that we are, in effect, heedlessly cutting off the branch we're sitting on.
It would seem that human beings crave not only profit, but also speed and a sense of imposed order. Accordingly, and without taking other important factors into account, we remove the trees from the hilltops to provide grazing, and straighten the rivers.
The outcome? You've only to look around you.
Without the roots of the trees to absorb the surplus water, the rain flows straight down the hillsides. Without the facility to meander, the rivers become fast-flowing and can quickly produce serious flooding . . . something we're witnessing all too graphically at the moment.
Could it be that our beleaguered Earth is using El Nino for a purpose?
Is it trying to point out that we're nothing more than cocky newcomers, newcomers with the dangerous illusion that we're separate from all other forms of life . . . that we're the ones in control?
Whereas we couldn't exist without our planet's freely-given bounty . . . it hasn't the slightest need of us.
What's more, there's no doubt that, should it wish to do so, it could resort to far more drastic and disturbing measures than it's chosen up to now.
Earth is all-powerful . . . click here for a graphic picture of what I mean.
Before we cut off the branch completely, mightn't it be wise to pause and think?
