Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990                   TAG: 9003162734
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SEASONS CHANGE

Winter left last Saturday when the sun came out, and stubborn storm windows were loosened and opened. Over the weekend, people began to believe that the February thaw was not a false promise. Perhaps the snow shovel could continue to gather cobwebs. The continued balmy weather proved that the calendar was wrong and the prognosticating groundhog was right; spring had arrived.

Proof lay in the first pale spray of redbud and dogwood blossoms, and the fresh green of new leaves and young grass. Such weather induces visions of playing hooky in even the most sobersided, and it's difficult to be too critical of those who succumb.

At the same time, that sudden warmth brings to mind the warnings of environmentalists about global warming and ozone depletion. Guilt and fear cloud the spring sunshine. Is all of this glorious weather happening because another 100 acres of Amazon rain forest was bulldozed? Have automobile emissions and aerosol cans brought us to the edge of ecological apocalypse?

Those questions are the province of scientists and politicians who argue at great length and detail about the answers. Voters and taxpayers have to sort through myriad contradictory claims about the damage that has already been done, and dire forecasts of a frightening future. But, for the moment, especially this first moment, the path of least resistance is just to accept the early spring as a gift, and to say thanks for it.