Carbon Footprints In The Snow: Then & Now

Pedestrian braves the street, avoiding the un-shoveled sidewalk. Image credit:The Hook, photo by Hawes Spencer Having grown up where snow up to the windows was normal, it is with amazement that I view my fellow Southeastern Pennsylvanians dealing with serious snow. Two honest-feet fell Friday night; and, another two feet are predicted starting tomorrow night. Pretty crazy. Unless you are a denialist or a meteorologist, looking out the window, you'd think the climate had changed! Suppose 4 feet on the ground becomes a winter norm going forward. How will they adapt? The 1950's offer a model.

First, a stage-setting chronology.
Tomorrow there will be a grocery shelf-clearing attack, fronted by shock troops of SUV-driving women. Though a majority of the vehicles hereabout are SUV's, because none have snow tires and/or tire chains it's safe to assume we'll be shut down though Friday morning. This leaves plenty of time for watching the weatherman's fear mongering ,...and for clearing snow.

Most of the snow clearing here is gasoline powered. A few rely on shoveling; but, mostly its plow's for hire and gasoline powered blowers. The elderly and single parents have a tough time coping.

I chatted this up with my neighbor, yesterday - both of us hating that our clothing smelled like exhaust from running behind 9HP blowers for 5 or 6 hours. (There's no way a hand shovel or an electric blower could do this job in a day.) What else can be done?

Back in the Pleistocene.
What happened before the pickup mounted plow and gasoline blower became commonplace? It was just accepted that work and school routines would be disrupted by snow storms; and getting out, if it was going to happen at all, meant walking. Neighbors helped each other.