The cards are on the table
(The table’s turning round)
The rules aren’t quite stable
(But listen to that sound)
[Verse 1]
We came with empty pockets
(And a head full of dreams)
Life keeps changing channels
(Or so it seems)
You can’t keep every moment
(You can’t hold back the tide)
But you can choose the way
(You take the ride)
[Pre-Chorus]
[Drums Build]
So roll the dice
(Breathe once or twice)
Look around
(You’re alive)
[Refrain]
Let’s…
(Play the game)
Sure bets…
(That’s the name)
Play the game of livin’
(With what we’ve been givin’)
Take love’s advice…
(Come to life)
Come out and play
(Today)
[Verse 2]
We chase tomorrow
(And forget today)
We build our little castles
(Then give them away)
A little bit of kindness
(A little bit of grace)
Can change the whole equation
(Can change the place)
[Refrain]
Let’s…
(Play the game)
No regrets…
(Stayin’ sane)
Play the game of livin’
(With what we’ve been givin’)
Take love’s advice…
(Come to life)
Come out and play
(Today)
[Bridge]
The end of the game
(Isn’t winning)
Never the same…
(Close to beginning)
[Electric Guitar Swell]
Love…
(Love)
Life…
(Life)
Play…
(Away)
… all day
Come alive!
(Thrive!)
Live!
(Live!)
Give!
(Give!)
Love!
(Love!)
Let’s…
(Let’s!)
Play…
(Play!)
The…
Game!
(GAME!)
Of livin’!
[Refrain]
Let’s…
(Play the game)
Sure bets…
(The name)
[Outro]
Play the game of livin’
(With what we’ve been givin’)
Take love’s advice…
(Come to life)
[Verse 1]
High above the valley
(Where the sky flies by)
Something’s disappearing
(Right before our eyes)
Five years gone
(Nineteen point four)
Ice keeps melting
(More and more)
[Refrain]
Yelps!
(From the Swiss Alps)
Hot as hell…
(Fare thee well?)
When the mountains crumble
(Left with a pile of rubble)
No use crying… no use to mumble
(Trouble coming is about to double)
[Verse 2]
Two and a half meters
(Three or four!)
Gone, gone, gone
(And maybe more)
Ten meters vanished
(Where did they go?)
Thirty-three feet
(Down below)
Aletsch!
(Allalin!)
Clariden!
(Rhône!)
[Refrain]
Yelps!
(From the Swiss Alps)
Hot as hell…
(Fare thee well?)
When the mountains crumble
(Left with a pile of rubble)
No use crying… no use to mumble
(Trouble coming is about to double)
[Bridge]
Matterhorn…
Wind torn
(Where did the snow go…?)
Take stock…
(Bare rock…)
Frozen ground…
(Coming down…)
[Bridge 2]
Lose the glacier…
(Are you sure…)
… we’ll endure?
And the system changes us!
(Dangerous!)
Oh, well!
(Fare thee well!)
More energy!
(More melt!)
More melt!
(Danger felt!)
[Final Refrain]
Yelps!
(From the Swiss Alps)
Hot as hell…
(Fare thee well?)
[Outro]
When the mountains crumble
(Left with a pile of rubble)
No use crying… no use to mumble
(Trouble coming is about to double)
Yelps!
(From the Swiss Alps)
Hear that bell…
(Fare thee well?)
When the frozen foundations
(Start to crumble)
Every little warning
(Becomes a rumble)
What the hell?
…fare thee well…
About the Song
How Is the Climate Energy Hitting You?
Swiss Alps: Fare Thee Well?
Swiss glaciers are disappearing at an extraordinary rate.
The Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) network and the Swiss Academy of Sciences report that Swiss glaciers lost approximately 5.5% of their total ice volume during the first eight months of 2026. That is the second-largest annual percentage loss on record, exceeded only by the exceptional melt of 2022.
The combination of exceptionally low winter snowfall and a record-hot summer has pushed Alpine glaciers into increasingly dangerous territory. Scientists warn that continued warming threatens the long-term survival of many Swiss glaciers.
A Five-Year Avalanche of Ice Loss
The latest measurements reveal how rapidly Switzerland’s frozen water reservoir is shrinking.
Nearly 20% Gone in Five Years
Swiss glaciers have lost approximately 19.4% of their ice mass in just five years.
Percentage Losses Are Accelerating
Although the absolute volume of ice lost in 2026 was lower than during the infamous 2003 heatwave, the percentage loss was substantially greater. The reason is straightforward: Switzerland’s remaining glacier ice reservoir is now dramatically smaller than it was two decades ago.
Meters of Ice Disappearing
Glacier thickness declined by roughly 2.5 to 4 meters (8 to 13 feet) in many areas during 2026, while some glacier tongues retreated by as much as 10 meters (33 feet). Major glaciers, including the Allalin, Clariden, Rhône and Aletsch, experienced severe melting.
The implication is important: as glaciers become smaller, a similar amount of atmospheric heat can produce an increasingly large percentage reduction in the remaining ice.
When the Mountains Begin to Crumble
The damage is not limited to the glaciers themselves.
Extreme warmth is also destabilizing the high Alpine environment by thawing permafrost—the permanently frozen ground and rock that helps stabilize steep mountain slopes.
Bare High Peaks
By late September 2026, the Matterhorn, rising 4,478 meters (14,692 feet), was photographed with exceptionally little snow cover. Persistent snow and ice at high elevations are becoming increasingly vulnerable during extreme warm periods.
Thawing Permafrost
As permafrost thaws, meltwater can penetrate cracks and fractures in mountain rock. The resulting changes in water pressure, ice bonding and rock strength can increase the risk of rockfalls, landslides and other slope failures.
In some locations, exceptionally rapid ground movement has already been observed. At sites such as Spitzerstein above Kandersteg, slopes have reportedly shifted by as much as 70 centimeters per day, demonstrating how quickly Alpine terrain can respond when its frozen foundations deteriorate.
The loss of glacier ice therefore represents more than a change in scenery. It is a change in the physical infrastructure of the European water cycle.
Climate Energy at Work
Glacier loss provides one of the clearest visible examples of how excess climate energy is redistributed through the Earth system.
More atmospheric and oceanic energy → warmer air → reduced snowfall → accelerated glacier melt → exposed darker surfaces → greater solar absorption → further ice loss
At the same time:
Warming → permafrost thaw → weaker mountain structures → increased rockfall and landslide risk
These are not isolated events. They are interacting components of a changing climate system.
The Swiss Alps are effectively losing part of their natural infrastructure in real time.
Fare Thee Well?
Some small, low-elevation Alpine glaciers may already be committed to disappearance under present climate conditions. But the larger question extends far beyond Switzerland.
Every fraction of a degree of additional warming affects glaciers, snowpack, permafrost, water supplies and sea-level rise. The loss of a glacier is therefore not simply the loss of ice. It is the loss of a natural reservoir, a climate regulator, a water-storage system and part of the physical infrastructure on which human societies depend.
The Swiss Alps are telling us something important: climate change isn’t just happening around us. It is changing the systems we depend upon.
[Refrain]
Just like that…
(She’s back)
Summer wasn’t gone
(For long)
… she’s back
Just when I forgot
(She’s so hot)
Bringin’ on fraught
(Hot, hot, hot)
[Verse 2]
Heat comes creeping
(Through the door)
Sweat starts dripping
(More and more)
[Refrain]
Just like that…
(She’s back)
Summer wasn’t gone
(For long)
… she’s back
Just when I forgot
(She’s so hot)
Bringin’ on fraught
(Hot, hot, hot)
[Bridge]
Summer…
You said you were leaving.
(Now we’re here grieving)
What did I miss…
(July for Christmas?)
Hot!
(Hot, hot, hot!)
… she won’t be forgot
[Refrain]
Just like that…
(She’s back)
Summer wasn’t gone
(For long)
… she’s back
[Outro]
Just when I forgot
(She’s so hot)
Bringin’ on fraught
(Hot, hot, hot)
She’s back!
(She’s back!)
Hot, so hot!
(Hot, hot, hot!)
[Surf Guitar Tremolo]
[Ocean Waves]
[Drums Fade]
Just like that…
(She’s back…)
She wasn’t gone…
(For long…)
[Soft Vocal]
…she’s back.
[Final Guitar Chord]
[Silence]
[End]
About the Song
Human-caused climate change is expanding the global summer season by roughly six days longer per decade since 1990, causing summer weather to arrive earlier and linger much later into the year.
As global greenhouse gas emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, seasonal cycles are changing faster than previously measured. This shift alters traditional calendar boundaries and reshapes the planet’s climate patterns.
• Total seasonal gain – Research published by the University of British Columbia in Environmental Research Letters shows that summer-like weather in the midlatitudes lasts roughly 30 days longer today than it did in the 1960s.
• Lingering fall heat – Data from Climate Central indicates that summer temperatures now extend an average of 10 days later into autumn across a vast majority of analyzed U.S. cities.
Increasing tropospheric ozone contributes to climate-system acceleration through simultaneous direct radiative forcing and indirect ecological forcing, with ozone-induced vegetation stress reducing carbon uptake, altering land-surface energy and water exchange, increasing ecosystem vulnerability, and interacting with wildfire, drought, methane, lightning, and other climate feedbacks. These coupled interactions may amplify climate-system responses beyond the effect of ozone considered as an isolated atmospheric constituent.
[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Piano, Deep Sub-Bass Synth, Acoustic Guitar, Organ, Harmonica, Tribal Percussion, Electric Slide Guitar]
[Intro]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
Ridin’ the coast
(What a roast!)
Slowly movin’
(But not away)
Hangin’ around
(Another day)
[Verse 1]
Atlantic City
(Beach took a hit)
Half-mile stretch
(That’s some of it)
Dunes carved deeply
(Steep and tall)
Sand disappeared
(There goes the wall)
[Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least
Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay
[Verse 2]
Down in Brigantine
(The beach did flee)
Hundreds of feet
(Washed out to sea)
[Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least
Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay
[Verse 3]
Storm energy
(Turned into cost)
Flooded the streets
(What have we lost?)
[Bridge]
Storm energy!
(Flood and erosion!)
Wind energy!
(Coastal corrosion!)
Joules don’t stay
(In a textbook line)
They reach your house
(And they reach mine)
[Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least
Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay
[Breakdown]
Flooding!
(Erosion!)
Wind!
(Destruction!)
Power!
(Interruption!)
Traffic!
(Disruption!)
Property!
(Depreciation!)
Business!
(Complication!)
[Final Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least
Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay
[Outro]
Comin’ from the northeast
(What a beast!)
Turning energy
(Into receipts!)
Damage
(Becomes dollars)
Dam Age!
(Everybody hollers)
[Silence]
[End]
About the Song
The late-September 2026 nor’easter turned atmospheric and oceanic energy into a massive economic event.
$10–13 BILLION in estimated damage and economic losses.
Flooding.
Beach and dune erosion.
Downed trees.
Power outages.
Infrastructure damage.
Transportation disruption.
The storm demonstrates a simple connection:
STORM ENERGY → FLOODING + EROSION + WIND → DAMAGE → ECONOMIC LOSS
Climate energy does not remain an abstract number measured in joules. It reaches us through the places where we live, the infrastructure we depend upon, and the economic systems that connect us.
The Jersey Shore: Erosion, Flooding and Infrastructure Damage
The most concentrated physical damage occurred along exposed coastal communities.
Atlantic City
Atlantic City experienced some of its most severe beach erosion since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. A particularly hard-hit area extended for approximately a half-mile north of Steel Pier.
The storm carved deeply into the dunes, leaving steep sand escarpments and exposing previously buried structures. Atlantic City Beach Patrol officials reported that roughly half of the dunes remained in the affected area after the storm.
This is more than a cosmetic change to the beach. Dunes function as part of the coastal defense system. Removing large quantities of sand reduces the physical buffer between ocean waves and developed areas.
Brigantine
Brigantine also suffered extensive beach and dune erosion. City officials estimated that hundreds of feet of beach were washed away, while approximately 30 feet of dunes were lost in one particularly vulnerable area. Officials said the damage could amount to tens of millions of dollars.
The storm also damaged the city’s promenade. A newly installed beach-access ramp was torn from its foundation and carried approximately 30 blocks down the beach before being recovered. Sections of promenade railing were also damaged.
Mayor Vince Sera described the storm as producing exceptionally powerful ocean conditions, while city officials emphasized that the promenade and seawall helped protect homes and infrastructure from even greater damage.
Repeated Tidal Flooding
The storm’s slow movement and persistent onshore winds produced flooding over multiple high-tide cycles.
In Sea Bright, New Jersey, for example, successive tides repeatedly flooded neighborhoods rather than producing a single isolated flooding event. More than four inches of rain also fell in portions of New Jersey, adding freshwater runoff to the coastal flooding problem.
The combination of heavy rainfall + elevated ocean water + high tides + strong onshore winds created a compound flooding event.
