Renaming Places and Things Is Sometimes Cause for Sadness
In general, renaming places and things on this planet shouldn’t be particularly disturbing to anyone: progress militates that Mt. McKinley, Bombay, Burma, Ceylon, Dahomey, Rhodesia, etc. all lose their names to support our more modern sensibilities. But certain places require new names because of unfortunate and probably irreversible environmental events, and that really should cause considerable discomfort to everyone on the planet.
A great example of this is Glacier National Park (see photo) in the Montana Rockies (the northwestern part) of the U.S. When the park was founded on this day in 1910, it boasted 150 glaciers. Now, due to the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, the count is down to 26, and in a few decades we’ll be faced with a quandary: continue calling the place after something that no longer exists, as ridiculous as that may sound, or giving it a new name.
Sad times.
It does seem odd that a glacier that has been around for 10,000 years suddenly disappears within a 100 year timeframe. This notion should not be rejected by these politicians who are dismantling the EPA. In 2012, Amy and I were in Glacier National Park for 7 days. This place is sacred to me and by far the most beautiful landscapes I’ve even seen. It is extremely sad what humans are doing to our planet.