Ah, graduation: Such pomp and circumstance; such pride of accomplishment; heaps of congratulations. By the end of last week, the caps and gowns were growing out of style, gift cards were being cashed-in and plans for summer vacation had replaced graduation as the first topic of conversation.

Linda and I attended the graduation of our grandson last week. How proud we were seeing him sitting among the other grads, a smile purposely withheld so he could show how mature he had become. Diplomas were distributed and “Pomp and Circumstance” played, and then the new graduates left the stage and the celebration began. Only the future lies ahead of them; a positive, if uncertain, path available for them to follow. If only I had the perfect advice I’d lay it all out for him. The problem? My grandson’s attention span. He’s four and just graduated from Iron Bridge Kids pre-school. It will be Curtis Elementary for him in the fall.

On a more serious note, what will his future be? Will he have the same opportunities that his parents or grandparents had or will the world be an entirely different place? It is certain that the challenges he faces will be different and, I think, more demanding requiring skills that we have not yet heard of.

I know there are some of you out there who say that climate change doesn’t exist and if it does it certainly wasn’t caused by humans. Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, (I like to call him The Cooch) has gone as far as to challenge one climate researcher through a lawsuit, charging that the researcher bilked the government of research funds, which is at minimum a political stunt and at worst a condemnation of science in general. Is this the new Inquisition?

Stephen Hawking writes in A Brief History of Time that “Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science. His renowned conflict with the Catholic Church was central to his philosophy, for Galileo was one of the first to argue that man could hope to understand how the world works, and, moreover, that we could do this by observing the real world.”

“Observing the real world;” now that’s an interesting concept that “The Cooch” ought to consider, right here in his own state. Can it be possible that Virginia has taken a step backwards; refusing to allow scientific research on the grounds it may be antithetical to ones religious or political beliefs?

You may be following the story of how some homeowners along the water in Hampton Roads have to raise the elevation of their homes by building English basements or garages under them because storm surges push water up into their homes. The rise in levels of the bay are not a problem until a nor’easter, tropical storm or hurricane comes along, but scientists predict normal sea levels are increasing, which will eventually create a lot of problems for the Hampton Roads area. And, this is not only “The Cooch’s” buddy saying this but it’s backed up by 10,600 scientists in the U.S. who say global warming is one of the most serious challenges facing us today.

Our children and grandchildren really have their work cut out. The oil spill in the Gulf surely isn’t helping and while political divisions seem to threaten the country, they’re cyclical and eventually we’ll see a consensus, at least when it comes to the environment. What some of us have feared for years is becoming more evident. While a few years ago, the threat of the arctic ice caps melting was something most thought of as too far away, or the repercussions too far in the future, all of a sudden we begin to see the affects of climate change right at our doorstep.

I was reading recently about the squash bugs that were giving me some problems in my garden. At one time the squash bug only reproduced one time during the growing season but now the growing season has extended just slightly, enough to allow the squash bug to produce a second litter of pests during the season.

The debate over climate change raged on these pages a year or so ago and arguments became a little boring. I think the conversation is changing, and people are learning that a heat spell in the summer, just like a big snowfall in the winter, does not prove or disprove global warming. I think people are beginning to see through the politics of the issue and realize that climate change is real. While the causes are still being questioned by people who have not stood on a busy street corner and breathed the CO2 , it brings to mind Hawking’s comment about “observing the real world.”

Interesting, this “observing the real world” concept. I think there are a lot of things in this world that if we just slowed down a little bit and observed for ourselves, we may see things just a little bit differently.