By Ann Burnside Love
Without getting into a discussion of whose theories are
right about climate change, during this last week we have been experiencing the
coldest temperatures Americans under 40 have ever encountered. (The weather folks
tell us this, so it must be so.) At the same time, they give us below-zero wind
chill reports in all sorts of cities and communities unused to and unequipped
for these extremes.
Since I’m primarily addressing my contemporaries and their
adult children, I realize that we are several decades older than 40 years, and
most of us have experienced lots of weather extremes in our lifetimes, no matter
what part of the country in which we live. Even the southern states are
experiencing one of the coldest spells on record.
Now, I’m prepared to believe that this “cold” is life threatening,
and that my contemporaries and I had better remain indoors, period. The
question then becomes: Where indoors and under what circumstances?
