Forget Global Warming…How About A Global Cleaning?
Even though there is a consenus around the fact that global warming is, in fact, happening, there are still a lot of people that think it is all a load of bunk. As far back as 2003, the World Meteorological Organization “highlighted record extremes in weather and climate occurring all over the world in recent weeks and linked them to climate change”. However, “The earth has warmed before” and “It’s a natural cycle” are two common things I hear from people who think that everything is going to be just fine. OK, I will play along - let’s imagine for a split second that everything is going to be just dandy, that seas are not going to rise, that animals the world over are not going extinct, and that tornadoes are not happening in the strangest places - now what? Because global warming is not* happening, should we continue to treat our planet the way we have been treating it? If we are not in danger of warming the planet beyond repair, should be just keep with the status quo? If it doesn’t matter what we do, should we even care about the health of the earth and our environment? Absolutely. And here is why:
No one wants their grandchildren to live on a planet where the water is so polluted there is nothing to drink.
No one wants their grandchildren to live on a planet where about 50-100 different species continue to go extinct on a daily basis, which is 1000 times faster than their natural rate.
No one wants their grandchildren to live on a planet where the air is so dirty that everyone has asthma.
No one wants their grandchildren to live on a planet where the food is genetically modified because we cannot grow it naturally anymore.
No one wants their grandchildren to live on a planet where cancer cases are expected to rise to 15 million cases a year by 2020.
No one wants their grandchildren to live on a planet where there is an island of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean that is even bigger than the United States.
No matter what your political leanings, no matter if you believe in global warming or not, no matter if you are 15 years old or 95 years old - what we are doing to the earth is affecting not only us, but every single generation to follow…and why would we want to leave this place worse off than when we got here? I am 35 going on 36 years old next week - I know I have some time left here, so I don’t want to live in a dirty, polluted, dangerous world. But even more so than that, I plan on having children - and I surely do not want to leave them with a planet in a constant state of fighting back against what the last 100 years of human development has caused.
So no matter what you believe, believe in this - we need to help make the earth a cleaner place for ourselves and future generations. Can’t we at least agree on that and work on solutions that benefit all of us alike?
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5 Comments, Comment or Ping
Mark
Amen. Thank you for this, for some people it is not about global warming, but rather just about the health of this place. Thanks.
May 13th, 2008
Ryan
Definitely agree. While I’m happy that climate change is getting a lot of attention in the media (and some attention by the presidential candidates), I haven’t seen much attention focused on the “planet cleaning” we need. Also, climate change is often bandied about as something we need to address to solve the “energy crisis”, not just because we should be good stewards of the planet. But hopefully all in good time. And hopefully climate change will be a trigger to a broader discussion. In the meantime, acting at the grassroots level (and in the voting booth) will certainly help. And also talking to friends, family, etc. not just about climate change but also about the general environmental degradation taking place (overfishing, species loss, habitat destruction, plastic waste, etc.).
May 13th, 2008
Becky@FamilyandFamily
Great post.
I’m actually one of those people who is a little skeptical of global warming. I’m glad you wrote this, because you’re right. It doesn’t even matter if you believe the Earth is getting warmer or not. It is still very obvious that we’ve been doing a horrible job of caring for the Earth and living sustainably.
You don’t have to believe in global warming to try to live greener. We should all be doing it!
May 14th, 2008
Ron@TheWisdomJournal
Great common sense article. Some ideas are able to transcend politics (and even science) and you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head with this one.
May 18th, 2008
david
Thanks so much for the kind words Ron, appreciate it.
May 18th, 2008
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