January 2011 will be behind us in one day; it seems like time is passing at breakneck speed, seems just like yesterday that the world was celebrating (and some were dreading) the arrival of the New Millennium along with the mass hysteria of Y2K. Since then we have had 911, Afghanistan, Iraq, SARS, Avian flu, and Swine Flu outbreaks, the 2004 Tsunami and many massive earthquakes, Biblical proportion floods, the biggest Economic crisis the world has ever seen and more unrest in the Arab world than ever before in history. So this century and this millennium seem to be following a catastrophic course from climate, social and economic perspectives. However all that has transpired in the past ten years seems to have been compressed and released with great force in the 31 days of January 2011. It has been the most active beginning to any year that I can remember. With one month out of the year behind us and 11 months left to go, what else does 2011 have in store for this world? If January is any indication, there is much in store and little if any of it will be worth cheering.
From extreme cold in the Northern hemisphere to extreme flooding in the southern, this January has been the most active and catastrophic January for as long as I can remember. Although there was no one single event that caused a massive loss of life like the Haiti earthquake in Jan. 2010, the long term effects of Jan. 2011 weather disasters will probably prove to be much more catastrophic than that terrible event from last year.