The increasing irregularity of monsoons affects lives around the world. We do not know how climate change will affect monsoon behavior, but the best scientific hypotheses are that we may never return to a steady, dependable monsoon. Climate change may fatally break the ancient relationship between farmer and monsoon.
"God is still up there (controlling the weather)," Inhofe recently intoned in a Senate speech. "People would like to think it is man who is causing climate change. They don't want any progress." That is a pretty sweeping indictment of the more than 300,000 people from all walks of life and age groups who paraded in New York City.
A key question as we make the long transition to a sustainable and renewable economy and culture is the role of individual responsibility and personal lifestyle. In the end, our individual behavior as "consumers" adds up to the crisis of sustainability, but the causes of this crisis are far from simple.