Minnesotans love to talk about the weather especially because it seems to swing from one extreme to the next very quickly. Within one month, especially in spring or fall, we can have summer-like-heat or winter-cold. It can rain buckets in an hour and wash away the road, or it can be hot, dry and dusty like this year.
“It seems to me that in the 1960s, June in Park Rapids meant sweatshirts and long pants in the morning, then shorts or swim suits by noon, but back to the sweatshirts by evening,” said Carolynne White, League of Women Voters Park Rapids Area (LWVPRA) member, who grew up in Park Rapids and retired here. “The night always cooled off for sleeping. I didn’t know anyone who had air conditioning, especially not in their cabins. We didn’t seem to need it. There was usually at least one week of constant rain or drizzle too. But this summer, the air conditioning is so welcome and I’m glad I have an irrigation system for my garden.”The changing climate and what effects it has on our lives has now become a “hot” topic of discussion. LWVPRA and Beagle and Wolf Books & Bindery invites all interested people to have a community conversation about these changes.
To focus the discussion it is suggested that people get together in smaller groups over the summer to view David Attenborough’s film titled A Life on Our Planet. It is on Netflix or the DVD may be available at the library. This beautiful film shows Attenborough’s personal memories of the places he has filmed over the last 70 years and the amazing changes he has seen on our planet. Invite family, friends, neighbors and have your own movie night.
If you are a reader you can get the book version at Beagle or the library. The book is called: A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future.
Attenborough has worked with the BBC for close to 70 years. Many people associate him with beautifully-shot nature documentaries - Our Planet, Planet, Earth II and Blue Planet II, etc. His films deal with the impact humankind is having on the planet.
