#clouds – All The Best

Rebuttal

We Take Clouds for Granted
Clouds are changing, and we need to find out if it’s just temporary or from global warming.
By Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Taylor Maggiacomo

New York Times

My rebuttal: I beg to differ. I never take clouds for granted.

See #clouds at https://ourcitylife.art.blog/ for instance.

Mr. Pretor-Pinney is an author in Somerset, Britain, and the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
I founded the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2005 because I believed we should all pay more attention to the sky. It was originally just a lighthearted idea — I felt I needed to stand up for clouds.
In Britain, where I live, they’ve always received a bad rap because they have a habit of raining on our barbecues. The Society was for anyone who, like me, believed that clouds are one of the most evocative, dynamic and accessible aspects of nature.
Over the past two decades, tens of thousands of people have joined the Society from all around the world, and I’ve come to realize there are also weightier reasons for paying more attention to clouds. Some relate to our mental health, and how the sky is an ever-present resource for us. Others relate to atmospheric science, and the way changing cloud cover in a warming climate could shift how clouds regulate temperatures below, which is the subject of my guest essay this week.
The world has changed in both these domains over the life of the Society. Our need to be out in nature for well-being has never been greater. Our attention economy is, of course, dependent on getting us to look down — at our devices. Looking up at the sky is something we can all choose to do at any moment. It is a way to lift our perspective.
Tuning in to the sky encourages you to slow down, to follow a narrative with no beginning and no end, to find what is common between us rather than what divides. No one, as far as I am aware, has ever come to blows over the beauty of a sunrise.
The scientific case for paying more attention to the sky is, I now believe, even more profound. That these most dynamic aspects of nature should change as the global climate heats up has, to me, always seemed likely. Now, the science is starting to show us how, and the stakes are high. The sky, it turns out, is both mirror and messenger. It reflects our need for wonder, and it carries the signals of what lies ahead.

New York Times

I love clouds, but

You’ve heard me say that before

Irresistible

At least to me. And in fairness, to me, these cloud formations are a bit novel [to me]. Let’s hear it for the clouds!

#clouds is a favorite # [hashtag] of mine & you will find links listing some cloud-relative posts past

Beta Blocks

In my mythology of the world, clouds are a fragile world we cannot visit.

They are too delicate to bear our weight.

After all, they are the nebula as reflected in their status as “nebulous.”

Those clouds

Before the rain, these clouds seemed benign. And quite beautiful.

Colorful

The better way

To me, this is the highway 
To heaven, spread out so 
You have to jump from one
To the other like jumping 
Over stepping stones, or in
Tight, marking an ephemeral
Pathway, built of clouds and
Leading overhead, skyward.
Just as we imagine a heavenly
Roadway to guide us, upward
Towards our better or even
Our best selves, this is the 
Highway to heaven. We need
Search, nor yearn, no more

Sky watch

Will she ever tire of the sky?
The clouds just hanging there
Will they bore her, inactive as
They are. Floating as if the 
Sky was their backyard pool
Clouds have wispy outlines;
Their inner lives are nebulous.
She has to read into what she
Sees to find meaning in their
Station in the sky. Doesn't it
All look the same from day to
Day? So little movement to
Move her as she stares up!
Will she ever tire of the sky?

Rainy days

After getting caught in a deluge just outside the reach of scaffolding, I had a chance to rethink my attitude towards rain.

I don’t want to undermine the effects of weather events that ruin communities, take lives, and devastate an entire region like Puerto Rico or Louisiana.

It’s just that on many occasions we let an ordinary rain ruin our mood. We let it drive us indoors when we’d rather be out.