Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Shrine at Lourdes Damaged By Flooding

According to climate scientists, one of the effects of global warming will be that it will rain excessively in some places, while causing drought in others. Is global warming to blame for the damaging floods that have inundated the shrine at Lourdes, France and caused millions of dollars in damages as well as ruined pilgrimages? Perhaps that is the cause. It certainly is not because of lack of prayers because Lourdes is one of the holiest of Catholic shrines, drawing millions of prayerful visitors each year.
So it must be the out of control climate which is causing disruptive weather throughout the world. Is climate change to blame for wildfires in Colorado, drought in parts of the world and excessive rainfall and killer tornadoes and storms?  Alaska has been having record breaking temperatures, a heat wave which is shattering records and causing an extreme wildfire danger in that state.
What's scary is that perhaps all the prayers in the world won't help once we hit the tipping point.
I hope that's not the case.  We literally keep "playing with fire," damaging the earth's atmosphere, increasing greenhouse gases and believing that that damage we do, will not affect us. So much pride, is  dangerous, foolish and ultimately costly.
Flooding reached the second floor of some hotels in Lourdes and pilgrimages had to be cancelled.
Clean-up has begun and the shrine will certainly need donations to help restore it. But this happened on a smaller scale in October of 2012. This time it has been called a catastrophe.
If this can happen at such a holy site, one wonders if things are out of control already with weather patterns and if the severe effects of global warming are beginnng already. Seems like an ominous sign. The waters at Lourdes were always associated with healing but now in the "new normal" the waters are destructive. Something is not right. It doesn't take a climate scientist to see that.
NJA