Wednesday December 22, 2004
Santa at sea?
In North America, Santa dominates Christmas more than Christ.
Over the last decades, scholarly criticism has cast doubt on the literal truth of the biblical Christmas stories. But it hasn\’t made too much difference to our Christmas customs, where Santa remains the central figure.
But global warming may change that, too.
Some people – a smaller and smaller number, fortunately – still deny global warming. But there\’s no question that this Okanagan Valley has been warming. In the eleven years I have lived here, the lake has frozen over just once. And then it was such a thin skin of ice that the first faint breeze broke it up.
But I have seen photographs (taken by the late Sigh Kobayashi from the slope directly below our house) of the lake frozen over solid, with ferries having to smash their way through thick ice.
My first boss, Don Laws, came from Penticton. He described winters in his childhood so clear and cold that drivers drained their cars\’ radiators before Christmas, and ran them without any coolant until spring.
It\’s hard to imagine. Today, grey clouds squat on the mountaintops through most of the winter. The summer heat stored in the lake creates an inversion – warm air trapped in the valleys under a current of cold air up above.
But even those who accept the reality of global warming don\’t seem concerned. Mostly, they welcome the prospect of never having to shovel snow off their driveways again.
The North Pole as open water To receive this column regularly via e-mail, send a request to jimt@quixotic.ca. E-mail subscribers also get excerpts from correspondence about these columns. Please forward a copy of this column to anyone who might be interested in subscribing.
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For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to ralphmilton@woodlake.com.
It\’s also worth pursuing Richard Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
Now, however, scientists warn that the Arctic is warming even faster than the rest of the world.
Sea ice is retreating. Water levels are rising. A few communities will be flooded. Polar bears are threatened. Without ice, they find it harder to hunt the seals they depend on for food.
The North West Passage will soon be navigable much of the year. It will cut 5,000 km off the ocean trip from Europe to the Orient. Canada\’s sovereignty will be challenged, as other nations insist the North West Passage is now an international waterway.
Until now, Canada has never had to exercise sovereignty over the North West Passage. The ice did it for us. Who wants to contest the right to use a route they can\’t get through anyway?
Even that, though, is unlikely to get Canadians seriously worked up about global warming.
Santa might, though.
Everyone knows Santa lives at the North Pole. As Arctic ice retreats, there will be no North Pole to land at. Santa\’s reindeer will splash down. The elves will have to become mermaids.
I know, I know, Santa is a myth. A symbol. Myths and symbols don\’t need solid surfaces to land on. But myths and symbols rarely fare well when contradicted by reality.
How long will kids continue to believe in Santa, when they know the North Pole is now open water?
How will we need to modify our Christmas customs and stories, to keep our grandchildren\’s disbelief at bay?
When that happens, global warming will impact everybody.
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Copyright © 2002 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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