We’re turning a blind eye to a dangerously colder life. When you think of climate change, you think of warmer weather and shifting of seasons, right? However, that isn’t all that results from the ever-worsening conditions of our climate. As seen in the devastating ice storms a year ago, there is no peace during any month of the year.

One of the first most noticeable effects of climate change on our winters happened in 2021 when we had the ice storm. What many people didn’t talk about, however, is the devastation in Texas.

Texas had never experienced such a terrible winter storm, so is it any question that the state wasn’t prepared for the random sheer coldness that dropped on Valentine’s Day in 2021? Days went by with sub freezing temperatures and power outages caused by their failing power grid all over the state. With Texas being so ill prepared, stores sold out of necessary products and many people froze to death.

700 people died in those days, yet I have never heard anyone speak about this awful tragedy, despite us sharing borders with the state. We have to ask why this happened, take this situation and learn from it.

Climate change is defined by the UN as a long-term shift in temperatures and weather patterns. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have chipped away at our ozone layer, and are causing the sun to beat down on us more and more. That ripple in the ozone layer expands every single day.

Climate change doesn’t mean just hotter seasons. On the contrary, according to NASA, Arctic Oscillation is caused by climate change too. What Arctic Oscillation causes is allowing cold air to plunge down onto specific parts of our world, such as the Midwestern/Eastern United States.

So, are we done with the extreme cold? It might seem so, with our recent drought-filled summer with record high temperatures. Cold weather seems merely like a distant dream. However, according to The Farmer’s Almanac — a 204-year-old publication — and all the science of climate change we have just discussed, perhaps our wishes for cold will be granted too literally.

The Farmer’s Almanac predicts that there will be record breaking low temperatures to accompany the record breaking heat we have seen. Heavy snow reaching as far as our very home, Oklahoma, and bitter cold air following the snow is predicted too. It’s best to be prepared to avoid another horrible tragedy such as the failing Texas power grids.

Though these predictions are not fact, I wanted to bring attention to it nonetheless. Our world is beginning to fight us back for all the hurt we’ve caused it, and it is costing lives. It’s time we start looking at these weather patterns and fighting for a change, lest every year we’ll continue to chip away at our world’s lifespan, and no one will spare it a second glance.