A Fable for Bloomington

Lisa Sideris examines Bloomington, Indiana in the spring of 2012. The town experienced an unusually warm season, with temperatures hitting the high 80s (approximately 30 degrees Celsius) in mid-March. While locals enjoyed the warmth, the newspaper warned of a "false spring" that never materialized. The episode echoed Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which began with a fable about a disrupted spring season. Bloomington's migration from hardiness zone five to six signaled climate change, yet many dismissed this, preferring comfort over concern. Sideris explores the happy public’s acceptance of abnormal weather and their increasing dismissal of the environmental sciences.