I'm all for cutting global pollution

First of all, I agree with Rich Chatfield, Ed Drew and others that man must "find more efficient ways of using our precious natural resources."

I likewise agree that we need to use more plentiful natural gas, even in our automobiles.

We need to seek new innovations in energy and set stricter standards for pollution control, especially in regards to carbon monoxide and poisonous gases.

Mr. Chatfield says that "we should address our natural resources usage levels in a direct relationship to an exponentially growing population."

I say "amen" to that, brother.

I should likewise mention that Rich Chatfield is "not some crazy hippie crackpot. He comes from native Idahoan stock from the logging industry. He's not a so-called 'tree-hugger.' Neither is Mr. Drew, who lives in Northern California.

Let me also add that I'm not against the 'theory' of global warming, or global cooling for that matter. Climate changes happen in 'natural cycles' that are made worse by the poor stewardship of our planet by mankind, not God's fault.

Mr. Chatfield told me in an email that even if "we spend trillions of dollars" worldwide to fight pollution, "it's worth it." He says that it's a "win-win" situation.

He adds, "cars are more efficient, resource usage is less per person and we develop more clean-burning energy sources and options."

Mr. Drew claims that we "can improve our environment by substantially cutting the usage of various plastics, especially those non-biodegradable plastic bags used by supermarkets."

Just this past week, the city of Seattle, the home of the surging Seahawks, banned the usage of plastic bags. This was certainly a step in the right environmental direction in my opinion. (I hate plastic bags!)

Let's not spend TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS fighting naturally-occurring cycles of wide weather 'extremes.' Colder or hotter, cutting pollution is the 'key' to saving both our planet's resources and our environment. GO GREEN!

NORTH IDAHO'S WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

The ground Wednesday morning was covered by nearly an inch of snow that fell overnight. Thanks to Saturday's snowfall, we saw a White Christmas despite an extremely dry December caused by a strong ridge of high pressure camped over the Inland Northwest.

We only needed an inch of snow on the ground to qualify for a White Christmas. With colder temperatures locally in the past few days, we didn't see a lot of melting.

Morning lows will be in the chilly teens with afternoon highs in the upper 20s and lower 30s. It was 17 degrees early Wednesday, a frigid start to the winter season.

Longer-term, if 'La Nina' does strengthen a bit in the next few weeks before peaking, we should see increasing snows in our part of the country along with even colder temperatures from an early to mid January Arctic outbreak.

As I said last week, the stubborn high pressure ridge that has caused our extended period of extreme dryness this December, is finally showing signs of 'breaking down' or at least 'flattening out' a bit in recent days.

This has allowed for a series of rather 'weak' Pacific storm systems to 'override' the huge dome of high pressure. It's possible that the very end of December and the first week of January could return to the snowy ways of November that allowed our ski resorts to open earlier than usual.

Remember, in this cycle of WIDE WEATHER 'EXTREMES,' it's 'FEAST or FAMINE' when it comes to snowfall amounts in North Idaho and the rest of the Inland Empire.

Stay tuned, the winter of 2011-12 could still surprise us.

Happy New Year!

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com