Well…
you know me… I wonder about all the global warming stuff. It’s
not that I deny it. Absolutely I believe it’s possible. No… it’s
articles
like this that make me wonder.
You
know how Al Gore points to the polar bears and melting ice as
a problem? Well… according to this article, that very same melting
ice could trigger a rapidly arriving new ice age for the planet.
It
could last for more than 1,200 years.
It
could happen within months.
(Look…
go read the article first. I’ll wait.)
Ok…
before I get on some rant questioning global warming as a recent
event and not at all a cyclical occurrence for the planet… let’s
establish something right off the bat…
Humans
treat the planet like crap.
We’re
awful about it. Seriously. And I don’t need fancy scientific studies
involving ice samples and temperature readings taken from miles
below the surface or the north and south poles to convince me
of this fact. (And it so absolutely is a fact.)
All
I need to do is drive about a mile in any direction from my house…
and probably could do it driving from yours as well. (Ok… fine…
maybe we’ll walk the mile. Back to the story of evidence…)
You’re
driving along a main road. It’s not necessarily a highway… not
as secluded as the street on which you live. But it’s fairly major
road. Take a look off to the side and tell me what you see. Cigarettes…
candy wrappers… bottles and cans… bags from fast food places…
am I close? Can you find any of these items tossed to the side
of the road within a mile of your home? I’d bet you can.
Lions
and tigers and bears… oh my… sure… but find me any other living
creature on the planet that destroys it the way humans do. Or…
do you think some wild gang of leather-jacket-wearing killer whales
created the
trash dump in the Pacific Ocean? Sure… I could
see a scenario not involving humans. We all know when you get
a dolphin or two or ten together in a group… looking for trouble
and up to no good… wham… Great Pacific Garbage
Patch.
(Look…
go read about it… or use your favorite search engine to find your
own links. The thing is full of plastics and man-made trash, is
bigger than the state of Texas and swirling in the Pacific Ocean.
Amazingly, one of the articles I saw talks about how scientists
are studying it to see whether or not some life benefits from
the trash. Incredible. Anyway…)
The
end result is that each and every one of us needs to be more aware
of our actions and how those actions impact the environment around
us. We need to be cleaner… we need to reduce the amount of waste
we generate… and we need to recycle what we can to be used again.
That’s
not science… that’s common sense. (Amazing… no years of study
or government grants required! We treat the planet badly, case
closed.)
Want
some out of the box thinking on the subject? Ok. What would happen
if you drained every drop of oil out of your car’s engine and
started it? I mean there’s not a trace of oil left in there. Whatever
the result and however long it took… not good for the engine…
right?
So…
tell me… can you guarantee me that the oil buried underground
serves no purpose other than being the oil underground? I’m not
asking for a “well, come one, it’s no big deal” answer. I’m looking
for 100% certainty. Can you?
Are
we certain there isn’t some connection between weight, mass and
whatever else distributions and the rotation of the planet?
Are
we certain there isn’t some environmental reason it’s there?
Oh…
or here’s a good one… how about the people that want to solve
some of the global warming crisis by
burying carbon dioxide? Is that
really a solution… or merely delaying the problem? Because
I have to tell you… solutions like burying the stuff sure sound
alot like ignoring someone by closing your eyes, putting fingers
in your ears, and singing “la la la” while the person is nearby
talking. (My words) “The stuff is poison. So we’re going to capture
it, drill down a mile or so into some specific kind of rock, and
leave it there. And of course the stuff will never, ever, escape
or produce any harmful concerns for us later on.”
Yeah.
Heard the same
things being said about the tires. That was
a great idea at one point too.
Out
of sight is simply out of mind. Out of sight is not a definitive
solution for preventing harm.
Ok…
back on course here…
All
I’m saying is that if people want to say to me that man treats
the world around him horribly and needs to improve things, you
would get zero debate from me. Because it’s true.
But
when you try to tell me that the polar bears are in danger because
this is the warmest it’s been in 400 years… and statistics and
evidence say that nothing this bad has happened in 20,000 years
(or whatever… you get my line of thinking)… I want to know what
kind of cars they were driving a few thousand years ago when that
problem was full blown out of control before.
And…
what did they do to solve it?
Which
brings me back
to this…
There
are studies right now suggestions that melting ice on a massive
scale has happened before. And… brace yourself… when that massive
melt happens, it’s going to trigger…
Any
guesses? Oh yeah… of course… you used the link I gave you… you
read it earlier…
When
that melt happens, it’s going to trigger a massive ice age.
See
the melting artic waters entering the oceans will completely change
the currents of warm waters. Those currents being changed would
ridiculously alter weather patterns and, this leading to that,
new ice age.
Might
take all of a year to happen once it picks up a bit of momentum.
I’m
not saying the polar bears aren’t in danger folks. I’m not saying
they are. I don’t have a polar bear in the race. I’m just saying
there is an interesting perspective on the other side of the street
when it comes to this global warming stuff. And yet… bottom of
it all… there is no room for either side of the argument to deny
that we need to improve conditions around the world.
We
need to stop destroying sources of clean water. We need to control
the pollution of all kinds just pouring into the environment.
All of us need to be smarter and more responsible about the things
we do and how we live.
And
that’s something all of us should begin working on today, regardless
of whether we believe the stories or not.