Father: Oregon Will Be The New California

When I asked my father what climate change meant to him, he surprised me. His first response was that the polar bears are dying, but then he went in depth into some of good things first. Obviously, when one thinks climate change, they never think about positive changes, but my father talked about the opening shipping routes through the arctic and how that could benefit trade.

Now, my father was by no means supporting climate change and pollution, but he was merely looking at the bright side of the situation. This has been hard for us in a very pessimistic and negative class. Though he tried to do that, that example was one of the only practical ones he could think of.

He knew his stuff about climate change. He talked a lot about the gas prices and how they are going down. This was because they have found a cheaper way to produce gasoline (fracking), but it was worse for the environment. We posed the question: is it worth it? What is more important: saving money or saving the environment? Obviously, from a personal, here and now standpoint, one would say that saving money is worth it. Do we need to save money at that cost to our future though?

One of the main points that my father brought up was that “Oregon will be the new California.” He left it out on the table for interpretation when he said it; he almost knew I would argue it or ask him to explain himself. I did, of course. He thought that Oregon will start having more winters like we have been having the past couple of years. For those of you who did not know, these are not normal winters for the city of Eugene or the state of Oregon. These dry, beautiful and warm winters could continue. It is clearly a very small sample size and it is impossible to predict what will happen in the future, but it is scary to think that this could be a foreshadowing of that impending doom. He thought that, eventually, there would be a large migration to Oregon because of the better weather. I think that it is an interesting thought. This place is a beautiful environment that has its visitors complaining about the rain. If the rain was gone, would there be more visitors?

To end the conversation, I asked his if he thought he would see these changes in his lifetime. Laughing, he said, “of course” as if it was evident. He said something next that made sense, but I had not thought about it in a while. My father described how he had already seen so many changes in the world, both environmentally and especially technologically. In his lifetime, he had seen a change from textbooks and typewriters to computers and tablets. He also mentioned that we have all the information ever known to humans available in our pockets. He left the conversation on a positive note: if we can do that, we can combat whatever mess we create for ourselves with the environment.

6 thoughts on “Father: Oregon Will Be The New California

  1. I liked that this post was a more positive outlook on climate change. In this entire term it’s been a lot of doom and gloom on our impending future with the environment, so this was a nice change from the negative aspect we look at very often. It was also kind of insightful to think about technology that can help save our environment rather than destroy it. With our advancing world there are numerable possibilities that could arise that could be the answer to our environmental prayers, all it takes is for the right people to step up.

  2. I think it’s great you got a chance to talk with your father about these issues, and he makes a really keen observation: when it comes to a changing climate, there are going to be bother winners and losers (and if you’re interested in reading more about this, you might find this article useful: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/04/global-warming-who-loses-and-who-wins/305698/)

    I also think it was great that you were able to end your conversation on a positive note. I tend to agree with your father; we do have the intellectual, technological, and ethical abilities to create a better future (one that is more just, more kind, more sustainable, with better health, peace, and freedom for everyone), and we can do it even with a changing climate! The key question is will we be able to overcome political inertia, the powerful interests of the fossil fuel economy, and people’s own laziness to come together and do create this world in time.

    Conversations like the one you had with your father, and the ones we’re having in this class, are a good start. And even with all the negative stories, I for one have hope that we’ll be able to create that better world.

  3. I’m really glad that your father has a positive outlook on climate change and how we, humanity, can adapt. I completely agree with him; I feel that our nation, even our world, has been faced with huge problems and we tend to overcome them through adaptation. I spoke about this in my post, as well.

    It’s interesting that he said “Oregon will be the new California,” because as I’m creating the setting for my final project, I have Portland as a beach town where the ice and glaciers from the north have melted so much that the water covered most of Oregon. In this instance, and in the Future Coast activity that we all did, I find it fascinating that we all imagine similar scenarios for the future. It makes me wonder if they’re similar because of the media, what we’ve seen through movies, fiction, etc., or, if we all are creating this future world simply from our own imaginations and it’s a coincidence that they’re relatively similar.

  4. I enjoy the perspective your father is giving to you, and to our class through this post because it is hopeful. Which is something new to our class, we constantly read stories about this ominous and frightening future, but we never think of how far we have already come as a society both good and bad. Your father gives us a fresh perspective through shining light on the fact that we have already come so far through technology and so on because we are individuals whom adapt to our surroundings. And I personally do not think this adaptation will stop anytime soon, at least I hope not. We can do it!!

  5. I think that your dads outlook on climate change is spot on. Thinking about Oregon being the new California is so interesting because it can be considered to be so true. I think that this can definitely be happening especially after this warm winter that Eugene has experienced. Not only is Oregon starting to get warm and dry winters, but California’s winters are just getting hotter and hotter. I was on the phone with my dad and he was saying that Orange County (my hometown) is just as hot as Palm Springs right now, and that it is already going to be 90 degrees this weekend. I find this crazy because that is what the highest over summer would be.

  6. Your father’s outlook on the future with Climate Change was very similar to my Dad’s, which was that Oregon was about to become a lot more similar in climate to California. The thought of Oregon changing somewhat pained my Dad, as he had come to enjoy the rain, and isn’t much of a hot weather lover. It’s very neat to get a perspective on climate change from someone who hasn’t taken our class or isn’t in our generation.

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