We recently had a huge snowstorm. We've had a few really warm spells and there was a time that it felt like we weren't going to have a proper winter at all, but it seems it was just postponed because we've had a series of storms and wickedly cold weather as we near Spring. This wasn't the coldest or windiest we've had this year, but it beat the others in shear output of snow. Since we live in a basement apartment, I was wondering if it would be dangerous if the snow collected above our fire escape windows when I saw a bright flash. I thought I recognized the phenomenon, but it felt out of place and I didn't have time to consider why that was before a loud rumble confirmed what it was.
We were having a snowthunderstorm! I'd never seen such a thing before and frankly didn't know it was possible. I went outside to experience it personally. There was a lot of thunder and lightning accompanying the extremely heavy snowfall.
It felt so surreal. There was a time when I think I could have appreciated it simply as the awesome power of nature, but with all the talk of climate change any unusual phenomenon sparks concern that its a symptom of the Earth's ill health.
Apparently thundersnow is an established thing, although considered rare. I didn't understand most of what I read, but I don't think it implied anywhere that it was a byproduct of climate change, so that's nice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow
Recently Canada banned a number of single-use plastics, including grocery bags and plastic cutlery. I approve of this but it seems kind of minimal. I'd guess that packaging and transportation are much more significant drivers of climate change. I wonder if the more common use of medical masks alone offset the positive effects of banning plastic grocery bags. Oh well, maybe it's best to implement these changes incrementally. We saw the impact of large social change during the COVID measures.
It must be the production of these things that are banned, not the use or distribution of them because plenty of places still offer them. At this point, I've seen Wal Mart and Food Basics operating without plastic bags, although they still have those little clear ones for produce. The closest grocery store from us is using compostable bags, like what you use for food waste. I'm not sure if this is actually a viable workaround or if they're just using up their supply. If it is a viable alternative, I wonder why the larger companies haven't adopted it.
Rexall and the LCBO are using paper, but they always have. I remember a time when most places gave you the option of plastic or paper bags. I think there was even a time when people thought plastic was the more environmentally-friendly option because paper was "killing trees". Of course, now we know plastic is overall worse because it doesn't break down. If paper used to be a lucrative option for companies, I wonder why most places don't use it now.
But I'm not actually trying to champion compostable plastic or paper. Most places are encouraging use of reusable cloth bags, which is probably the best choice.
The other day I ordered a salad at a community centre cafe and they gave me a plastic fork. I wonder when we'll stop seeing that, and what fast food places will use to fill that void.
My work life has been turbulent. Our boss retired at the end of January and the person on our team that had the most experience got promoted to his position. Then we hired a new person to fill the place of the person that got promoted. Then someone else on the team had to quit their job a couple weeks ago because of life circumstances and we're down a person again. So we're waiting on another new hire.
I don't think I've talked about any of this on the blog. We were given a little notice, but the information came to us before a lot of other people so I didn't want to make it public, even though this blog doesn't get enough traffic for that to be a huge concern. I could have talked about it a few weeks ago, but I let the events occur before mentioning it here.
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