> Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. (John Updike)
I just finished reading a very long email from a friend in India. He was responding to a question about the impact of the election of Modi. He was quite positive, but with a couple of reservations. The first was familiar because so many countries are suffering through the same situation. For one reason or another, the coffers are empty and many badly needed programs cannot be executed.
The second was surprising and much more awakening. He spoke about the weather. The annual monsoon was expected to fall short of normal this year, producing drought and crop failures. If this does happen, whatever funds are available will have to directed to the consequences of food shortages. Here is a giant country on the path to modernization whose fortunes depend on the weather. Natural or made by us, changes in the weather matter. Anyone who thinks we can either wish climate change away or simply fix it when it happens should look at what is going on in India right now. We have had our own national experience with drought, but memories of it exist only in film and storybooks.