“It was one of those perfect fall days - the way it should be - with highs in the 70’s and clear, sunny skies.” I’m not describing the weather here in Washington. The quote came from a conversation I had last night with a friend who lives in New Mexico. Here in Northwest Washington the high might have made it to 60 degrees. It was raining off and on through the day and the wind picked up through the day. It was blustery when I took the garbage out to the curb after dark last night and I can hear the wind in the trees outside as I write this morning.

But if you want to talk about the weather, North Dakota is the place to be this week - or maybe any week. When we lived in North Dakota, you could find a lively discussion of the weather at the City Cafe any morning you wanted. I sometimes wondered when North Dakota farmers did their work because the cafe was full of them around 9 or 10 in the morning every day. And the most popular topic by far was the weather. “You think this is cold? You should have been her in the winter of ’66!” “That was nothing compared to the blizzard of ’20!” I missed both of those blizzards. I didn’t move to North Dakota until 1978. Seven winters later, I moved to Idaho.

North Dakota has been setting a different kind of weather record this week, however. Yesterday, it was 100 degrees in Dickinson, shattering the old record of 98 degrees set in 1905. It is the latest in the year a reporting station in North Dakota has hit 100 degrees or higher. And it made it to 100 degrees in Hazen, as well, which is the hottest reading that far north in recorded history for so late in September. Minot, a place with a reputation for cold weather, set a new record with 96 degrees. There haven’t been as many days above 90 degrees in any year since the Great Depression. And it will only take three more days above 90 in Bismarck to break that record, which could certainly happen.

So, if you want to talk about the weather, North Dakota would be a good place to go. I’m not sure, however, how many of those farmers at the cafe would say that human-caused global warming is the cause of the unusual weather. I have a few friends in North Dakota who have posted a few things on social media that has led me to believe that they have some rather unconventional understandings of science.

Here in Washington, we were at the center of a record-breaking heat wave in June, so I have a bit of understanding for those folks in North Dakota. When we lived in North Dakota we didn’t have air conditioning in our home and we bought a new car a couple of years before we left that state that did not have air conditioning. “Who needs air conditioning? It only gets that hot a couple of days each year.” I guess the answer these days is, “Folks in North Dakota, where it gets above 90 degrees 50 or more days each summer.” For that matter, there have been more than 25 days above 90 degrees up in the Northeast corner of the state at Grand Forks, a place I used to describe by saying I spent a cold month during three days one December up there.

And it is no longer summer in North Dakota. Fall has officially arrived - at least by the calendar. What is more, the City Cafe in Hettinger North Dakota burned to the ground many years ago. Folks gather in a couple of different cafes these days.

There is no doubt that we are experiencing more extreme weather events and that the rate of increase is accelerating. The last two years have set record upon record for hurricanes hitting the coast of the United States. Extremes of weather have been recorded all around the globe.

Meanwhile, in Milan, the financial capital of Italy, world leaders are holding final talks before a key United Nations climate summit set for Glasgow. More than 400 young people came to Milan to formulate a response to rising temperatures that is being presented to the official ministers today. Earlier this week Greta Thunberg spoke out against the lack of action from world leaders, mocking their “empty words and promises” as “blah, blah, blah.”

One of the things that threatens further progress on global warming is money. There have been promises of new investment, but wealthy nations are still around $20 billion short of the long promised $100 billion per year for helping poorer countries cope with rising temperatures. While the US Congress debates a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, world leaders continue to haggle over $20 billion.

What is frustrating for the youth people, including those who attended the meeting in Milan, is that there is clear evidence of what needs to be done to make significant progress and limiting global warming. It is not a case of not knowing what to do. It is a matter of finding the political will to do what needs to be done. Steps like halting deforestation and beginning reforestation, accelerating the electrification of automobiles, banning the construction of new coal fired electrical plants, and increasing energy efficiency of buildings are all steps that are technologically feasible.

Science is on the side of the young people. They have studied the information and they have their facts straight. It isn’t difficult to understand their frustration. If one of their speakers mocks world leaders, it is pretty understandable.

Last night in a discussion of church members over Zoom, we were looking at the book “Tenacious Solidarity” by Walter Brueggemann. Our discussion was focusing on a chapter towards the end of the book that speaks of the power of prophetic speech. A question that came up was, “Where are the prophetic voices in our world today?”

I think we know the answer to that question. A better question might be, “Who is willing to listen and be moved by the prophetic voices of our time?”