Will the Music “White Christmas” Develop into a Clarion Name for Local weather Change Motion? — International Points
WASHINGTON DC, December 15 (IPS) – As every Christmas approaches, one tune permeates the airwaves throughout america and elsewhere: White Christmas. In keeping with the Guiness E book of World Information, “White Christmas” is the #1 promoting bodily single of all occasions with over 50 million copies bought.
Many know these iconic opening lyrics:
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,
Identical to those I used to know.”
This American vacation basic, written by Irving Berlin and recorded by Bing Crosby in 1942 in the course of the depths of World Warfare II, conveyed in its time the nostalgia of an easier previous and the hope for a greater future.
However contexts change and, with them, so can meanings. As we speak, we face a brand new and totally different sort of worldwide menace, extreme local weather change which, based on a current World Financial Discussion board report, may end in an extra 14.5 million deaths and $12.5 trillion in financial losses by 2050.
What would possibly quickly stand out most in regards to the lyrics of White Christmas is the nostalgia for an precedent days when there was truly snow on the bottom in late December, an expertise which is now projected to change into rarer in lots of areas due to local weather change.
Clearly, not this December 2025 in america which resides by means of the blistering chilly of a polar vortex. However different components of the globe are seeing their warmest December in many years amidst what is ready to be the world’s second hottest yr on report as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations pushed by greenhouse gasoline emissions monitor upwards, altering our local weather.
And whereas there could also be Christmas snow on the bottom in 2026 or 2027 or 2028, that might, based on present local weather predictions, change into rarer and rarer over the medium to long run. A snowy Christmas is perhaps one thing that fades right into a reminiscence in lots of locations if we don’t keep away from extreme local weather change.
Consequently, the tune White Christmas presently conveys a brand new message. These lyrics initially written to invoke a sense of nostalgia and hope ought to now be learn extra actually. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, similar to those I used to know” is a warning about the necessity to scale back greenhouse gasoline emissions to keep away from the aberrations and destruction that extreme local weather change would trigger.
White Christmas, this vacation basic from the previous, ought to right now be heard as a clarion name for local weather change motion.
Philippe Benoit is managing director at International Infrastructure Advisory Companies 2050 specializing in local weather change.
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