The Beast From the East

The locals are calling it the "Beast from the East" or "Snowmageddon"--an apparently frigid snowstorm arriving in the UK and Ireland.

My classmates and I have been consistently poking fun at the locals' shock, as back home in Colorado, I hear there are a couple feet of snow and business as usual. One morning, my Irish roommate giddily asked us if we had seen the snow, and our reply was, "you mean the frost on the grass?"

This storm has left a few inches around Maynooth University, I'll give them that, but in places like Dublin (pictured above), there's hardly any coverage and yet the city is closing down. Our school has canceled classes for the rest of the week and sent out a survey to students to track where we'd be over the extended weekend to make sure we'd be safe.

This immense concern is both amusing and a little bizarre. However, upon taking a step back, their panic lines up with their climate, which hardly ever experiences snow like this. Maybe I find it a bit ridiculous that locals are so awestruck, but they have a very different environmental context than me.

And what's more, after doing a little research, I found that the Arctic is warmer than several parts of Europe.

It brings me much pain to witness climate change happening right in front of my eyes. I despise the impact we as a species are having on our planet, and that we are largely refusing to change our behavior for a positive impact.

Environmental impact is one of the biggest reasons I decided to become vegan and why I do so many quirky things, like carry around my own silverware and take quick showers and bring my own bags to the grocery store. But I can't help feel so helpless knowing that I'm trying to cumulate various small acts to influence the environment, and yet it all feels so futile.

So as I was eating toast this morning and looking at the flurries, I started to shift from scoffing at the Irish to feeling defeated and sorrowful that such a wonderful event means such catastrophic things for our future.

Then, in the distance, I saw some university students throwing snowballs at each other, laughing and having a grand time. I realized that maybe the big picture looks a little depressing, but that's no reason to not enjoy the present moment.

My goal now is to enjoy the beauty of each moment, while also still striving to mend the world in the ways I can.