I have not been a tree hugger for all of my life. I'm 34, so half of my life was spent not knowing or caring what happened elsewhere because I wanted to play baseball, score chicks and have a great car, probably in that clearly delineated order...The last decade I have paid attention to the growing concern and also the growing backlash against the idea that our Earth is pissed off. Now, mother nature has not yet sent us yet to our room, but she is showing her harsher side, growing more temperamental and eventually wil tip her hand, likely to our ultimate dismay.
We have utilized our fossil fuel resources to drive our industrial age for roughly 250 years. The last 100 years has seen us make plenty of holes in mama Earth's skin, spill our messes on her face and letting go her once precious figure by expanding our population. So mama Earth has aged and does not look so hot - where she once was quite the looker of the Universe. (Think Helen of Troy, Aphrodite, Marilyn Monroe, Bridgette Bardot, maybe Fara Fawcett, pre-Burning Bed, and Jessica Alba all rolled into one.)
While I am using sarcasm and humor, I actually am trying to point to the serious of this problem. Earth no longer looks so hot. She's heating up --according to scientists, engineers and anyone that has noticed anything remotely related to such balance. From the reports, we do not have much positive to look forward to if we refuse to change our polluting, wasteful and otherwise greed driven ways.
Some are not convinced of this. They believe that scientists have some hidden agenda like trying to live in a tree-filled, clean, species-laden and healthy Earth at the cost of Capitalism and Free Markets because scientist hate money...or some other nefarious action to destroy the Oil companies, Car manufacturers and Mining Industries.
There are alternatives batted around that could lessen our problems in the future. Less energy usage (like my computer used to write this diatribe), and pollutions from my car, lawnmower, and anything that puts out CO2 on regular basis. (Though some disagree on that gas's contribution.) Printing out paper, which encourages big paper companies to cut down those trees, not recycling enough and keeping inefficent lights and other products humming along.
Nuclear power can be a better way to go. Yet people are afraid of 3-mile Island that happen in 1979 when I was seven. Plenty of biased press coverage has negated any hope of building future reactors, even though they can be done safely and much more effectively. Yes, they produce waste - but containment fields can be made or better, why no ship this stuff out space where it is at home in its natural habitat? (Nuclear material, that is.) Once again, plenty of bias against this area.
Overpopulation is also a great multiplier of this problem. Look, this mother Earth is getting crowded. People are going to starve quicker than they will die due to climate, yet the damage may be doubly so. As our population is diversifying - third world becoming developed on fossil fuels and the U.S. fails to show leadership on this issue of Global Warming - it is growing at an alaming rate. By 2050, we'll be on the threshold of 9-10 Billion souls. Should be an interesting world if we run it like we do today.
As you probably figured, I watched An Inconvenient Truth. If anything, you should keep an open mind about things. We've made plenty of mistakes on this pebble called Earth. We may think back soon enough and say, "boy, maybe we should have listened...to mother Earth."
I should come clean and say I still have to drive too much. I do deliveries everyday which requires me to drive and I can't afford a hybrid or solar or electrically-enhanced vehicle. I turn off power, unplug often and otherwise do my best, when I think of it. We better solve these problems with Global Warming, Energy Usage/Efficiency, Overpopulation, H20 shortages and other environmentally related issues or Mother Earth is going to go Postal in a way barely recognizeable to our children or us.
Think Globally, Act Locally!!!
