What is your favourite season? Winter, spring, summer or autumn? Here are four reasons your answer should be all of them!
Save The Seasons
Variation please!
There are many important biological and natural reasons the seasons are important, but let's begin with just the feeling of seasons. The beauty of spring, the flowering, the awakening, the flirting, the explosion of life, both social and biological. It happens all at once because we’ve been dormant through winter. A spring after summer wouldn’t be the same. The same goes for autumn. The colours are nature preparing for winter. The contemplative melancholy of humans preparing for winter. After an eventful spring and summer we can, in good conscience, retreat into the comfort of our couch with a book, a show and a glass of wine.
Nature needs them
Autumn can seem like a tragedy for nature. Most life dies or goes dormant. But seeing as nature is a huge complex system of organisms that depend on one another, it needs a good and reliable alarm clock. To bring the bees out as flowers are blooming and a host of other carefully timed interactions in nature.
Right now the seasons are changing. Climate change is often talked about as something that will happen if we don’t take action, but climate change isn’t the future. It is happening now. The average number of cold winter days is plummeting, disturbing the rhythm of nature, waking the bees too early.
Our culture is built around seasons
Holidays, traditions, food, activities and sports. Most, if not all of our traditions are shaped by the seasons. Around the world, different cultures have built their way of life around what needs to happen at different times throughout the year. Sowing, tilling, harvesting and conserving for winter. Architecture is different in different climates because of different seasons. Christmas could be celebrated in summer, but it wouldn’t really be Christmas (sorry Australians!)
What happens to our culture if the seasons disappear? We don’t know. But if you remove the fundamentals upon which they were built you’ll probably get weird results... like surfing Santas!
WWF Norway and Bergans are lobbying Norwegian politicians to take the seasons to UNESCO and get them onto the world heritage list, because they affect all cultures. If you believe the seasons are worth saving, you can sign their petition at savetheseasons.com
Parakeets
Parakeets used to be exotic. Now they live in London. That might not be a disaster in and of itself, unless you live in London and your bedroom faces a rowan. But the cute invasion warns of other dangers. Plants and animals have evolved over millions of years to endure and thrive in different climates. When the climate changes, it sends them wandering. Some because they can't survive the new reality, others because they can suddenly thrive in new areas. And in turn the competition can send the natives packing.
WWF Norway and Bergans are calling on global governments and citizens to sign this petition as part of the 'Save our Seasons' campaign.
Tagged in winter