insomnomaniac

I AM worried, very worried

I'm no scientist, and I don't know what the heck we can do about this, but global warming DOES scare the crap out of me.

The problem I have with it though is that I do not see it as a partisan political issue. In short, I think BOTH parties are wrong about what we should do about our role in it.

(Some) Republicans want to ignore it, downplay it or pretend it's not happening at all. They want their big business cronies and sponsors to be able to pollute with greater impunity because it's good for bid-ness.

(Most, if not all) Democrats want us to sign Kyoto immediately and to take drastic measures (unilaterally I might add) to curtail greenhouse gas production here in the U.S.A.

The problem with the Republican approach is obvious. Denial is not a river in Egypt (that would likely become and ocean if the warming continues), it is dangerous.

The problem with the Democratic approach is less obvious, but just as important to examine. Signing Kyoto would do nothing more (and nothing less) than put the U.S. in an unfavorable economic position relative to the other signers AND it does not include the world's biggest current polluter: China.

If "two wrongs don't make a right," then the argument that they are a "developing nation" and have a right to an industrial revolution like we had is completely bogus. The clear difference is that during our industrial revolution, we had no idea what we were doing to the environment, nor were we doing it on as large a scale. The population of the U.S. during the mid-late 1800s was a grain of sand on the beach compared to the Chinese population, and even smaller than that compared to the population of the world as a whole--the world the Chinese want as a market for the goods they want to now mass-produce with their factories.

HOWEVER, having said that, it is important to stress that we are not innocent bystanders either. We love going to Wal-Mart & Co. to buy a pair of jeans for $10, shoes for $20 and all manner of crap for even cheaper than that. Where is it made? In those same "developing" economies like China that are the world's current big polluters.

I know what Democrats and environmentalists say--that we in the U.S. use more energy than those countries combined, but they aren't being 100% honest. Yes, we do, but not all of that energy we use is being pumped out into the environment as toxic gas (anymore). We have made huge strides in the past 50 years to clean our air and reduce emmissions. Not so in other countries, some of them without China's "excuse" either. I remember when I lived in Europe in the late '80s you couldn't walk down a city street in most of the major cities without choking on exhaust fumes. The restrictions were nowhere near what they were here, cars weren't "tested" for their output, nor were fuels formulated according to the same strict rules we had and still have. We may be pulluters, but we are not alone, so we should not be alone in trying to correct the problem.

Now don't think I'm suggesting we should stop buying things from polluting nations. That would set us on a course that would create other problems--geo-political instability for a start, possibly even war! China is a massive nation with a lot of mouths to feed. We're not likely to convince them to change their dirty ways without incurring some other problem, possibly far worse in the very near term.

Same holds true with other restrictions we might put on ourselves. Don't want to cut down oxygen-producing (pretty) trees? Make it illegal? Timber industry somewhere else will gain jobs and money (we'll lose both), we won't stop using wood that's for sure. Don't want the Chinese pumping out crap into the atmosphere? Shit, they mow their own people down with tanks when it suits their fancy, what do you think it will take for them to stop polluting the air we all breathe? Even if all their citizens suddenly became infertile because of toxins, they'd probably see it as free birth control. Don't stake your hopes on them caring, and if we put stiff tariffs on their goods? Well, like I said, they'll either punish us some other, more immediate, even less savory way, or they'll take their business elsewhere (best case).

And then there's the dirty little secret no one wants to discuss, because everyone (liberals in particular) still wants to believe that we humans are in control of the environment, the planet, of human destiny itself. That is that "God," or nature or whatever you want to call it isn't playing a role in all this too. Even (honest) scientists will tell you that one volcanic eruption (like Mt. St. Helens for example) will put more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than all the auto-emmissions Americans have ever put out there. Forest fires don't help either (but tell that to those who are against forest management to prevent them). And then there are the unknowns, like the possibility that some of the climatic change was destined to happen anyway, we just happen to be the unlucky bastards alive when it's first noticeable in a single generation.

I submit to you that all of these factors are important, and that is why I see no politician able to offer a solution. We have to start thinking as humans, not as conservatives, liberals, Americans, Chinese, Europeans, etc... It is the one time when national and political boundaries MUST blurr if we are to survive as a species. If not, we will (literally) go the way of the dinosaur.

Many people say that we have to make the first step because we are the last super-power, that others will follow our lead. I say hogwash. I wish it were true! That would be easy and one would wonder why we hadn't done it YEARS ago. Sadly, I think what needs to happen can't happen because it would put us in a position where it would be too late to take advantage of any newfound willingness to work together to heal the planet: Things have to get worse. The sad thing about us humans is that we have a tendency to act or be willing to act en masse only when our lives and the lives of those we love are or have been directly affected. Until then, we love to think it's someone else's problem. We also have a tendency to think there is safety in numbers. If we look around and see everyone else just going about their business as if nothing is wrong, we do the same. Don't believe me? Walk down a crowded street in a major city and yell "help!" Then check your watch and note the time it takes for someone to come to your aid. The more people there are around, the longer it will take. If it's rush hour, don't expect anyone to come at all.

That's what we're facing now--the environmental equivalent of rush hour. Case in point? The West Coast of our own nation is in desperate need of more POWER to sustain the way of life of the population out there. But how? Coal fired plants? Even though they can burn way cleaner than ever, no one wants them--perception is still that they are dirty, coal mining is dangerous, etc... How about nuclear power? Eeeew, scary! Three Mile Island fears take over, no one wants one in their backyard. Wind farms? Well, I can't comment too much on the way the people of the West feel, but John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are opposed to them in MA because they would mar the VIEW! (Out West there's probably a group against them for other environmental reasons, like some little birdy whose habitat will be threatened by the turbines).

So starting in the very near future, American humans on the West coast will likely have to endure rolling black-outs and power rationing because they don't want to take any of the necessary steps to produce the power they need. Of course the irony is that many of their reasons are environmental, but the net result is we are more dependent on foreign oil than ever (also a fossil fuel, duhr), and less likely to sacrifice in other areas that could truly help the environment long-term.

The planet is ailing, to be sure, and we as humans need to do something "STAT" to help her, but we're so busy rushing around doing other things, we can't stop long enough to even process what's at stake, never mind do anything to fix it. Add to that how terrifying it is to even think about and you have a human population that will likely suffer greatly before ultimately adapting to our NEW environment (if we are ingenious enough and there's time) or perishing from the Earth for good.

Most of us console ourselves with the notion that we'll be long dead before that happens, that we won't "feel" it, but those of us with kids, who'd like to have grandkids someday, should be worried about them. It's no longer a problem for our great-great-great-great grandkids, it's a problem for those we're likely to know and love, and if that doesn't scare us into action, I'm afraid nothing will.

(Tune in later when I will examine illegal immigration and how it feeds this problem as well!)

Posted by insomnomaniac at March 27, 2006 1:57 PM | TrackBack