Image via WikipediaFor the past few years, we've been inundated with all sorts of predictions about what would happen if we didn't do anything about cutting the gases responsible for global warming. Such as: The polar ice caps will melt, meaning those cute polar bears from the Coke ads would become extinct. New York and San Francisco will be underwater. Alaska would become a tropical paradise. Exotic insects and diseases will migrate north. Summers will be hotter and storms will be stormier. For further details, please rent the movie "The Day After Tomorrow".There are also those who think climate change is just a bunch of liberal hooey, perpetuated by former Vice President Al Gore, who also claimed to have invented the Internet. They seem to believe that the earth's climate is proceeding as it should, and that nothing should prevent them from business as usual. That's why these people have blocked every meaningful attempt to control warming, because things can't be that bad, right? Oh, and these people also happen to be some of the world's most powerful corporations, with politicians in their back pocket.
Here's a couple of weather-related headlines from the recent past:
- Los Angeles hit a record high of 113 degrees Monday. It would have been higher, but the thermometer at the local National Weather Service office broke.
- Heavy rains caused massive flooding and damage across the Upper Midwest, just as fall arrived. Rivers south of the Twin Cities are expected to crest into the weekend.
- Climatologists tell us that 2010 is well on its way to becoming one of the warmest years on the planet on record. Just like it's been every year this century.
Obviously, those who do not believe in climate change don't see that it's not about what the weather is like outside their windows. It's about what happens to the climate years down the road. The decisions we make (or don't make) today will go a long way toward determining if we want future generations to live in a real life version of a bad disaster movie.
1 comment:
It was refreshing to see a blog post on climate change from someone who actually believes it is happening.
Your post would be more effective though if you didn't include untruths. It is too easy to dismiss your whole blog if inaccuracies are left to try to make points with.
For instance, you are helping to perpetuate the myth that Al Gore said he invented the internet. What he said was he took the initiative in creating it.. and after reading this link you would tend to agree if not letting bias cloud judgment. Even Newt agrees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_technology
Also, no one is seriously predicting the that Alaska will be a tropical paradise. Perhaps this is just snark, but since other predictions included are beginning to happen (the north is going ice free in the summer in our time and large chunks of the south ice cap are breaking free) - I have read predictions of parts of New York being inundated (haven't seen the San Fran part but could believe it.) Exotic (to the area) insects and diseases are moving north, as well as marine species.
I'm not sure solution seekers in the know are actually calling for a complete elimination of fossil fuels but a drastic reduction in their use as fuel. I think if we subsidized alternative fuels (you left out quite a few including geo-thermal, tidal, hydro..) industry would make it practical for people to use. It is the fossil fuel industry that is perpetuating the myth that it is impractical.
cheers, JD
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