As you can see, the United States did not have a monopoly on the drought this year. Canada suffered quite a bit too. Lakes in the Boreal northlands lost as much as several meters/10 feet of water here and there, with the majority losing enough to expose some rather rocky lake bed. As I noted in an earlier post on the wildfires in Colorado, I like to generally stay away from politics and vicious debates on the nature of climate change, but seriously? The evidence is all around us. Lakes are disappearing, seasonal extremes are becoming more pronounced or muted beyond all recognition, and our planet is turning into something it should not have the chance to become in mere decades.
Speaking of politics, since we do have those elections coming up in the United States, and since apparently no one is going to pay attention to anything else until November 3rd (if then), I figured I might as well chime in on some issues that have to deal with the scope of American Voyages. No, no, nothing about abortion, the economy, foreign policy, or even welfare, but yes, yes, much about the environment, immigration, languages, and historical memory.
Why am I diving headfirst into this mire of political warfare, you ask? Simply put, because I am French-Canadian. When I was up in Le Nord at the top of the month, I experienced the start of some potentially brutal cultural warfare opening back up again between things Anglais and Francais in the battleground (ordinarily a peaceful lumber/tourist town) of Mattawa, Ontario. Quebec, you see, is thinking about independence again... or at least some of her more vocally irritating politicians are. This got me musing about the place of French culture in the New World, which in turn got me to thinking about the place of Hispanic culture here as well. In the next few days I figured I would take a look at who we are as a continental people(s).
I also figured I would get around to explaining what "Le Nord" is.
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