I try to ground my Fantasy in some sort of factual basis. Before I began writing ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ I read an article in Scientific American that concerned a short but dramatic fall in temperatures world wide about 12,000 years ago, during an interstitial warming period during the Ice Ages. The melting caused a huge ice dam to melt in the Western US and released enough water to fill the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence seaway. Subsequently it dumped into the Atlantic, reduced the salinity of the northern Gulf Stream, shut it down and started a short deep freeze.
Now scientists are speculating about a Cold Blob off Greenland that may be the result of freshwater icemelt from the Greenland cap. The consequences are complicated but alarming nonetheless. Perhaps a deep freeze in the Northern Hemisphere.
Recently there has been more press being given to this phenomenon. An excellent article appeared in USA Today concerning a slowing AMOC, Atlantic Meridional Ocean Current, or Gulf Stream. If you think a warmer Earth will cause enormous challenges and dislocations, imagine a frozen Northern Hemisphere. Catastrophic. And slowing has already been detected. In addition some scientists predict Europe will begin to cool as early as 2025 and ambient average temperatures may drop by 15 degrees F by 2029. Farming? Forget it. Check Science Friday website for more on this.
While ”The Girl from Ipanema’ was a result of speculation on my part, it tells a story of the dire political, social and economic consequences of the Gulf Stream shutting down. No Abracadabra in my Fantasies. No magic wands or stones. But a ripping crazy tale nonetheless.
