Making Up for Lost Time: A Double Dose of Insight and Local Lore
Making Up for Lost Time: A Double Dose of Insight and Local Lore
I owe you all an apology—it’s been two weeks since my last post here on The Colorado Switchblade. There are a couple of reasons for my literary absence. First, I finally took my first vacation in decades, a much-needed break from the grind. The second reason might sound familiar to those who were around when I signed my first book deal: I’ve been writing seven days a week, often for far too many hours each day, until the days start to blur together. So, it’s not that I haven’t been writing—quite the opposite, in fact.
To make up for the silence, I’m posting a double feature today. These articles were recently published in the Estes Park Trail-Gazette. The first is from my regular 'Edge of Insight' column, which you can find every Friday. The second is a local profile piece that visitors to Estes Park might find particularly interesting—it's about a local weatherman who has spent a lifetime in the field and is the only one providing weather forecasts specifically for the Estes Valley community.
Also, keep an eye on the Switchblade—I recently recorded a video interview with the Times of London. That interview will be released on their website soon, and I’ll share the link here as soon as it’s available.
Edge of Insight: The Dreams We Can’t Ignore
By Jason Van Tatenhove
I often have dreams—nightmares, really—of fires, storms, and floods. In these dreams, I’m with my daughters, desperately trying to escape, running from one place to another, only to find that there is no sanctuary. There are no safe harbors from these storms.
Dreams are an integral part of our life experience, though I admit I know little about their deeper meanings. What I do know is that I have them—vivid, sweat-soaked nightmares that wake me every two to three hours as my body and mind work through the night's healing processes. They say our bodies heal only when we sleep, so why wouldn’t the same be true for our minds and dreams?
I think many of us share these nightmares—storms, ancient titan forces creeping across our horizons. Perhaps these are not just personal fears but a connection to some communal, planetary network we might all be plugged into. It seems to me that everyone was having nightmares as COVID-19 reared its slime-slicked head across the globe.
My dreams of storms, I believe, are linked to the real-life burning our planet is enduring due to climate change. It’s as if the Earth itself is sending out a network-wide SOS, signaling that we are all in serious trouble. But once the immediate danger subsides, we dismiss it, breathing a collective sigh of relief at the end of ‘fire season,’ only to go back to living life as we always have.
Take, for example, our lawns. My parents and neighbors diligently tend to their water-hungry, non-native lawns, the largest consumers of water in urban areas. I see their side-eyed glances and hear the whispers about my rewilded lawn as they fill up their gas-powered lawnmowers. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about 30-60% of urban freshwater is used for watering lawns. In particularly arid areas like the western United States—places like ours—up to 75% of a household's water consumption goes into maintaining these lawns.
Lawns in the U.S. receive approximately 90 million pounds of chemical fertilizers and 78 million pounds of pesticides each year. Lawn maintenance equipment, largely powered by gasoline, contributes to 5% of U.S. air pollution. These green expanses are typically monocultures, dominated by a single species of grass. This reduces habitats for pollinators and wildlife and leads to a decline in biodiversity. In contrast, native plants, which lawns often replace, are better suited to local climates and provide far more benefits to the ecosystem.
But let’s be clear—lawns aren’t the real enemy here. The true problem lies in our way of life, a system handed down and perpetuated for generations. It’s the whole system—one that we seem to have little control over. It’s the oil megacorporations that work tirelessly to suppress new technological innovations and greener alternatives. It’s the food delivery systems that package everything in materials that harm the environment. It’s the cars we drive to jobs we don’t want, for salaries that don’t make ends meet.
Most of us won’t even admit there’s a problem, even as we experience more days where the landscape around us seems to ignite with alarming frequency. This cognitive dissonance is fueled by the misinformation and outright lies that profiteering corporations have force-fed us for decades. Make no mistake—they’ve known the truth all along.
As early as the 1950s, Exxon’s own scientists warned that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels were contributing to global warming. By 1977, Exxon was fully aware of the potentially catastrophic impact of CO2, acknowledging that a global temperature increase of 3°C could have severe environmental effects, including rising sea levels. Yet, despite this knowledge, oil companies like ExxonMobil funded campaigns throughout the 1980s and 1990s to spread doubt about climate science, delaying regulatory action on fossil fuels.
In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute developed a plan to create uncertainty about climate science among the public and policymakers. The goal was to make “recognition of uncertainty” part of the conventional wisdom, a strategy that has delayed global climate action by at least a decade.
Even now, as the evidence is undeniable, these companies continue to evade accountability. The "Exxon Knew" investigation in 2015 revealed extensive documentation showing that not only did Exxon know about climate risks, but they also took steps to protect their infrastructure from climate impacts while publicly denying the science. A study in 2021 estimated that the misinformation campaigns by fossil fuel companies have significantly contributed to the current climate crisis.
I honestly don’t know how we will tackle this issue. Frankly, we’ve done next to nothing about the things we must address for our species to survive. Like junkies staring at the collapsing veins in our arms, we continue to cook up just one more fix of the green-lawned lives we’ve always known.
I don’t think it will be us who truly take on this cataclysmic issue and genuinely try to fix it. It will be our children and grandchildren—those who have lost their homes, businesses, and loved ones to the ravages of climate change—who will eventually be sickened by our inaction. They’ll realize that if they want any future at all, they’ll have to claim it for themselves, taking away our toys of greed and corruption and putting us old folks in a corner while they clean up our mess. Hopefully, it won’t be too late.
Inside People - Greg Berman: The Small-Town Weatherman Decoding Estes Park’s Unique Climate
By Jason Van Tatenhove
In the heart of Estes Valley, where the weather can change as quickly as the wind sweeps through the Rockies, locals know where to turn for detailed, localized weather forecasts specific to the Estes Valley, Allenspark, Lyons, and north Boulder. They look up Greg Berman’s “Weather Talk” on Facebook.
Berman has spent decades mastering the art of forecasting. For Greg, weather isn’t just a profession; it’s a lifelong passion that began when he was just a child.
"I knew I wanted to do weather from as young as five or six years old," Greg recalls. "My brother Mark knew he wanted to be a sportscaster at the same age, and we both followed through with our dreams." While Mark became a prominent sports director in Houston, Greg's path took him into the world of weather, a journey that has spanned small towns and close-knit communities across the country.
Greg's educational journey began at Texas A&M University, where he earned both his BA and MA in English. Despite his love for literature, the call of the weather was always in the background. "I loved English, but weather was something I couldn't let go of," he says. His passion led him to an internship with Mike Nelson at Channel Nine in the mid-90s, an experience that he credits with providing the best weather education he could have imagined. "It was on-the-job training at its finest," Greg explains, "learning while doing."
His early career in radio and newspapers during the 80s laid the foundation for his eventual focus on weather. From KGNU in Boulder to working in small-market television in places like Vail and Aspen, Greg chose to stay in communities where he felt most connected. "I'm a small-town boy at heart," he says. "I didn’t care for the big markets; I wanted to stay where I could make a real difference."
Greg’s connection to Estes Park runs deep. In the early 90s, he spent seven years working with the Estes Park Trail-Gazette, providing weather forecasts and contributing columns twice a week. "I loved every second of it," Greg recalls fondly. "The community appreciated my work, and I felt truly valued by the Gazette."
Even after moving on from the Trail-Gazette, Greg has remained committed to Estes Park, now focusing on providing accurate weather updates through social media. His forecasts are particularly valued in a region where the weather is as unpredictable as it is varied. "Estes Park is unique," Greg explains. "You can’t rely on Boulder or Denver forecasts here. The microclimates are so different that it’s critical to have someone who understands the local patterns."
For Greg, forecasting the weather is more than just a job—it’s a challenge he relishes every day. "It's like an atmospheric Rubik’s Cube," he says with a smile. "Trying to figure out Mother Nature's next move is a huge challenge, but one I’ve spent 40 years honing."
Greg’s days are spent analyzing computer models, often multiple times a day, to spot trends and predict the weather accurately. "I look for patterns in short, mid, and long-range models," he explains. "It’s a lot of work, but it doesn’t feel like work to me. It’s what I love."
As Greg looks to the future, his goal is clear: to establish a dedicated weather service for Estes Park. He sees this as a critical need for both tourists and locals, who often receive inaccurate forecasts from larger stations that don’t account for the area’s unique climate. "It’s a travesty that Estes Park doesn’t have its own forecast," he says passionately. "The town deserves it, and I’ve been working towards it since the early 90s."
Greg envisions partnering with local entities like Visit Estes Park to create a sustainable service that can provide accurate and timely forecasts, helping visitors and residents alike navigate the often unpredictable weather. "This town is special, and it needs someone who understands its unique weather patterns," he says. "I’m committed to making that happen."
Greg Berman’s journey through the world of weather has been shaped by a deep passion and an unwavering commitment to the communities he serves. As he continues to forecast for Estes Park, his goal remains the same as when he first started: to help people understand and navigate the complexities of the weather, one forecast at a time.
