The warming threat
Douglas B. McGaw
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
THERE ARE a number of threats to our way of life, even to the survival of our species. One is the spectre of atomic holocaust, another the threat of worldwide revolution to obtain resources and food. One cannot dismiss the possibility of a meteor or comet causing another extinction event like that of 65 million years ago.
But — in addition to the ongoing issue of terrorism — there is one threat that is not just a possibility, but is actually happening to us now. The fact that it is happening over a period of years, rather than suddenly, allows us to ignore it or even to say it isn’t happening.
I speak, of course, about global warming. Recently Al Gore appeared before Congress to state the case for dealing with this issue immediately. He pointed out some undeniable facts: (a) This winter has been the warmest one on record, (b) the climate is warming faster than previously believed even by scientific observers, and (c) inaction will result in severe consequences to include water shortages, famine, and revolution.
Bush Administration policy has — and continues to be — one of disregarding or downplaying these facts. Many scientists involved in the research have been systematically censored by the Administration to keep their findings from seeing the light of day.
One is reminded of the lesson from the legend of the Briton-Danish King Cnut; his followers felt he was all-powerful and tried to impress him with this idea. In response, he had his throne carried to the shore where he commanded the tide to stay and not come in. When his feet got wet, he pointed out that even he had limits on his power. Unfortunately, our current leadership is not so wise.
Some have argued that normal climate change can account for the warming pattern and point to the warm spell that happened around 1300 to 1000 years ago. That may be so... to a point. The exhausting of so much carbon dioxide into the air by our industrial and consuming society, however, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered beneficial. While the climate may be warming naturally, we are providing an unnecessary catalyst which can only result in worldwide devastation.
Imagine the icecaps melting enough to raise the water by 10 or 20 feet worldwide; New York, Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Venice, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Honolulu, and hundreds of other major cities worldwide would be largely uninhabitable. Most of Florida and the coast of Georgia, the Carolinas, and the Chesapeake Bay area would also suffer greatly. Imagine also the refugee crisis as people from these cities seek refuge on ever-decreasing land. This would be exacerbated by the migration toward the poles as areas near the equator become too hot to inhabit. Imagine also the problems created by the ensuing anarchy and crime.
This is a problem that is on us now. It is imminent, and it is real. Inaction is not only stupid, it is criminal. And it needs to start now. Should Congress or the administration fail to act responsibly, the guilty parties should be voted out of office — even impeached — posthaste in order that we may have some sanity in our leadership.
noel_stanton (anonymous) says...
Bravo! Too true. What happened to the American dream? Things should be better for my children than they were when we were children. The dream has become denial and ignorance of what is happening in our world.
Keep up the good work!
Noel Stanton
Am Wellenberg 9
69509 Moerlenbach, Germany
email: stanton@planet-interkom.de
April 4, 2007 at 7:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dbmcgaw (anonymous) says...
Response to "snake"... A rather apt pseudonym for someone who hides behind anonymity, who snarls and hisses his hatred for ideas he doesn't like, who provides nothing in the way of productive ideas himself, who purports to know who and "what" I am, and who doesn't even take the effort to read the essay well enough to spell my name correctly.
As for being a Democrat, I normally see myself as an independent and try to avoid the trap of straight party-line voting. While I have tended to vote Democratic recently, it is mainly in response to the political excesses and ecological insanity embodied by the leadership of the Republican party.
Be that as it may, being labeled a Democrat or Liberal is not - contrary to some popular belief - a bad thing. It's certainly a whole lot better than being affiliated with a party that has developed a history of burying its head in the sand, ostrich-like, in matters of virtually any progressive ideas and in matters of environmental sanity. Instead of tackling the real problems we face, the current "leadership" has lied to trump up charges that "justified" our preemptive war in Iraq. Now they are so tied up with their failures, they are literally unable to extract themselves from their morass, like the tar baby fable in J.C. Harris' writings.
As for Gore being a loser: I have to ask if the tables had been turned would Bush have had the honor and strength of character to concede defeat even though he won the popular vote? No, Gore is an honest, thoughtful and competent man, a rarity among recent political leaders. He is a winner in ways that Bush will never enjoy; history is certain to judge Bush a total failure, and Gore as someone who might have made a positive impact in place of the negative one we've experienced with Bush.
April 15, 2007 at 6:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Dr_Mac (anonymous) says...
To Mr. D.B. McGraw is ask only one question. Do you have even a thread of evidence that any of the events, of which you speak, are even remotely true? I don't know what dead hero wrote the book you take ideas from, but the book I read does not support that unworthy information. Get a life! Wise up! Your team is not only not in the game but certainly are not to be winners!
April 15, 2007 at 8:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Mr. McGaw is right. It's happening. Ignoring it won't make it go away. Every year, temperatures get warmer (in both summer & winter). Every year, we have more severe outbreaks of "freakish" storms......Hurricane Katrina comes to mind.
It's not one of those things that is questionable. It's happening.
Oh--and if you haven't seen "An Inconvenient Truth" you should. It's not as political as you would think.
Melissa
April 15, 2007 at 9:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dbmcgaw (anonymous) says...
To Dr_Mac - another angry partisan who cannot even get my name right, much less his rationale... The facts are widespread and undeniable. I do not get them form some "dead hero" but from scientific research.
You tell me to get a life and wise up; I have done both, and encourage you to do the same. Wising up includes facing the facts of environmental damage. It's not a new thing. People have been documenting this point since at least the time of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" in 1962. Carson did not get everything right (for example, she did not take continental drift into account), but she started an awareness and awakening that we need to develop more fully.
I don't know what you mean by "my team", but if we lose the environment, we all lose. All "teams." And "unworthy information?" What does that mean? Information that you find discomfiting? I believe that is what Al Gore means by "inconvenient truth." Learn the facts. Avoid the ad hominem arguments; they only show the weakness of your position.
To Melissa: Thanks for the seconding, but be careful of using a few years of major storms as evidence for global warming. Climate fluctuations are normal phenomena. What's different now is not the frequency or intensity of storms, but the overall average rise in temperatures and sea level world wide over a period of at least four decades.
April 15, 2007 at 10:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MrCmonkeeDo (anonymous) says...
"...gore is in the process of making what fuel that is used now so expensive that even you will have a hard time affording it." [?!?]
Oh really? So let me get this straight. Al Gore is the sorry s.o.b. whut's causin' these here high fuel prices? Somebody git a rope.
See ya...wouldn' wanna be ya.
April 16, 2007 at 3:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
food4thought (anonymous) says...
I have trouble with people talking about global warming when you watch the news we still set record lows that haven't been reached in 30 yrs. When I see that I alway think why do people believe in global warming? It is just another way to get people worried and spend more tax dollars watching snow melt.
April 16, 2007 at 3:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
"I have to ask if the tables had been turned would Bush have had the honor and strength of character to concede defeat even though he won the popular vote? No, Gore is an honest, thoughtful and competent man, a rarity among recent political leaders. He is a winner in ways that Bush will never enjoy; history is certain to judge Bush a total failure, and Gore as someone who might have made a positive impact in place of the negative one we've experienced with Bush."
True, how true. When Bush won the 2004 election by nearly 4 million votes, there was ABSOLUTELY NO discussion or argument whatsoever over Ohio, or no attempt whatsoever to get Ohio recounted, which would have given the election to a Democrat who got outvoted by 3.5 million votes, not .5 million.
Funny how math & memory fail us when we want OUR way...
Gore's honesty and integrity in Florida in 2000. The Supreme Court did not GIVE Bush the election. What the Supreme Court decided, was that Florida MUST obey its OWN laws. It could not break laws that it had on the books JUST because the honorable and integrity-minded Al Gore wanted Florida to dismiss its own laws so that he could get elected. Look it up.
Oh, and how about all those martian SUV's that are melting the Mars polar caps faster than normal? Dang Martians.
Although I suspect what is really happening there is that Al Gore has one of his many extra homes that use 20 times the national average of electricity on Mars. Or his "green credits" that he touts so often (energy has to come from somewhere, not matter whether or not you have Enron doing your books for you) are used up in the Martian economy, thus saving our ecology at the expense of ruining the Martians.... :)
April 16, 2007 at 3:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dbmcgaw (anonymous) says...
Good Lord! How quickly this has descended into meaningless ranting and lost the original theme (which had nothing to do with presidential elections). It's pointless to argue with cretins. I'm not going to waste any more time on side issues.
April 16, 2007 at 9:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Welcome to Emporia, Mr. McGaw. The land of closed minds and unwillingness to learn about anything. I'm glad I got out.
Melissa
April 16, 2007 at 10:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
Let's see now. Go back and read your own post. YOU brought up presidential elections. It was answered, but not in the way you wanted. When someone points out some facts that you don't like, suddenly you throw your hands up, call eveyone cretins, and say its pointless to argue.
YOU brought up Gore's integrity and honesty. Someone points out his extravagant use of resources, while telling the rest of us to conserve, conserve, conserve, and you throw your hands up, call everyone cretins, and say its pointless to argue.
Closed minds and unwillingness to learn. If you were not close-minded, and had a willingness to learn, you would research the Supreme Court decision of 2000. If you were not close-minded, and had a willingness to learn, you would ask why any scientist (and there are many) who disputes the claim that WE are the main cause of global warming is summarily dismissed and ignored. If you were not close-minded, and had a willingness to learn, you would look a little closer into the personal lifestile and energy consumption of Mr Gore.
But, that would involve facts, and admitting that maybe you might have been wrong. I'm able to admit when I'm wrong. Show me the proof. Ah, the one question that always makes liberals throw their hands up, call everyone cretins, and say its pointless to argue further.
I don't think everyone who's opinion (or should I say who presents facts that may dispel my notions) are cretins.
Just for the record, lets' review the pattern one more time:
1) YOU make a claim that is a little off-topic about presidential elections (with nothing to back it up except your own opinion)
2) Someone answers the claim that YOU made, presenting some facts that refute it, or at the very least warrant some further research if you disagree, with the option to present facts to the contrary if you so wish.
3) They are immediately branded close-minded cretins, who bring up things that have nothing to do with the topic.
At least the pattern of the far-left I-dont-care-if-he-brings-total-world-peace-and-cures-cancer-I-still-hate-Bush crowd is consistent... (sigh).....
April 16, 2007 at 11:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
I realize that referring to data gathered through the use of optical and radio telescopes, satellites, deep-space probes and other silly ridiculous things like that make one a close-minded cretin, but for those who like to research and at least "pretend" to have an open mind, here are a few links which anyone can google and find easily - apparently it isn't only the ice caps on Mars which are melting faster than normal, but Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune's moon Triton are all warming faster than normal due to the neighbor down the street driving a HumVee...
http://seoblackhat.com/2007/03/04/glo...
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/g...
http://www.capmag.com/news.asp?ID=1465
I don't mind being called a close-minded cretin (its a badge of honor actually, when the left brands you that because it means they don't have a good reply), but is anyone the least bit bothered by the fact that if you don't jump on the global warming bandwagon, most likely you will get your research funding pulled? Anyone? Nobody finds this strange?
A really good video that seems to be unavailable from time to time, hope some of these still have links to the video itself, if not, the articles themselves are insightful as to what all the eminent "close-minded" scientists are saying Of course, there are plenty who disagree on both sides, just trying to show both sides...
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?st...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2...
I think this link still works...
http://www.archive.org/details/The_Gr...
Not saying everyone has to agree, I certainly won't brand anyone that disagrees a cretin, but I do try to look at both sides of the story before I start throwing the close-minded cretin labels around.
April 17, 2007 at 12:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
Small correction, my mistake: snake originally called Gore a loser, to which dbmcgaw replied. My apologies. Still, dbmcgaw was the first to bring up the presidential elections...
For the record, I am a registered independent and though I tend to vote more Republican, I reserve the right to vote for whomever I darn well please regardless of party affiliation. I wish this whole 2-party system would just go away....
April 17, 2007 at 12:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )