Global Warming is something I would like to see on a series of charts. Better than Gore's charts - more like a Incorrect Perception Overview (think project plan) which explains how our world is fundamentally incorrect in specific areas which need to be addressed clearly and with goals that line up to a Sustainable Society Overview. Of course, the cause of so many global warming and related issues originate from U.S. based ideas, policies, markets, buy-ins, companies, conglomorations and those who hold the strings.

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pink lotus

I feel as though human activity is playing some role in the current warming of the planet but I am not sure to what extent.  I am taking a class on atmospheric science and I will be interested to learn more about it.  We have to rule out, it would seem, that human development is the only factor.  After all there were ice ages and something caused all that ice to melt and it wasn’t human activity, right?

 

And, if we accept that earlier periods didn’t have the ice sheets covering the northern U.S. and Europe, what caused those to happen?

 

I think the global environment is at least as complex as our bodies with many, many interactions and dependencies to consider.  Exactly how we fit into the bigger picture and how we affect things is a puzzle.  I am not suggesting we not investigate or not reconsider our current actions, just that we not ignore other possible factors.

The statistics based on science speak volumes about the radical changes in the degrading atmosphere. I think that if you look at wide range of statistics you will make your own conclusions. I've also heard suggestion something along the lines that earth has begun migrating her axes.

In any case, of all of the inhabitants on the earth, the only one's living irresponsibly are humans. It's time to think of our progeny and what resources will be left to them. As stewards of this planet, humans really need to get organized and find a way to live in balance with her and with our fellow earthly inhabitants using all forms of renewable energy.

Global warming and irresponsible earth stewardship are the most complex issues created by humans left squarely in our hands to deal with. While some may be set on exploiting any setting that will foster more wealth, some may say that wealth isn't really real. It's only as real as people believe in it. If the dichotomy changes, we may be left to live in a real world with very limited resources for localities to subsist on. 

The cards will be dealt in the coming years, are you going to bet that global warming will not impact your natural world in the form of some sort of disaster in your lifetime? Or those dear to you?  I think it's worth preparing your body and mind to live in a brave new world.

 

 

 

 

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pink lotus

I sometimes wonder if humans are the only species that actually live irresponsibly…

 

I am not making excuses for us, just thinking out loud.  We should know better but…

 

I wonder about the various insects which seem to kill the trees and plants they need to survive.  The voracious plagues of locusts we have heard and read about.  They move on only after wiping out the flora in the area.  Does it always recover or does it sometimes turn into a desert devoid of the plants it had sustained before?

 

I have heard of nematodes that reside in the saliva of beetles until they are introduced into a pine tree at which point they proceed to the root system and end up cutting off the nutrition supply to the tree, eventually killing it.  That seems pretty irresponsible to me and yet we think of it as nature.

 

Then there are viruses and bacteria which kill their hosts…granted they go on to survive, even thrive, in the larger sense, but they are leaving a wake of destruction and death as they go about sustaining themselves.  Are humans the same way?

 

I also wonder about extinctions in the past – those clearly unrelated to human intervention or natural disaster.  Are there any cases where a species has devastated its environment to the point where it eliminates the source of sustenance and commits environmental suicide?  I haven’t heard of any but it would be interesting to find out.

 

Again, I am not about to question the concept that humans are shaping the environment but I do question the extent of our blame when compared to nature itself.

 

If the Sahara was not a desert but a lush forest in the past – how did it happen to change?  Well before humans had a chance to be involved?  How much change to the climate has continental drift caused?  If we believe that El Nino and El Nina modify our weather and those are based upon ocean currents, how would the currents have been different before the continents were in their current positions?  The weather (climate) must be considerably changed by tectonics and, some would suggest, those changes make the changes imposed by human activity pale in comparison.

 

All that being said, we need to change what we can change and we must be more reasonable in our activities.  Should we cut back on our lifestyles to use less energy?  If we are a family of two, do we really need more than two bedrooms, living rooms with no one living in them, dining areas off the kitchen AND formal dining rooms?  Do we really need the electronic toys we all feel we can’t live without – each consuming energy to operate, disposable batteries, and resources to make them out of plastic and metal?  Should we reconsider our disposable society where we toss out repairable goods – meaning more in the landfill and more energy and resources consumed to make a replacement simply because we think it is cheaper - is it really if we consider the true impact on our environment?  

 

All of these are things to consider but who among us wants to step up to the plate – before our neighbor?

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