That should not surprise us. We’ve been told often that the globe is warming. Maybe not in your backyard, or mine, but elsewhere where it is more important: polar sites, both north and south.
Yes, geophysicists have reported the globe experiences cycles of warming and cooling. These variations are normal; some are more marked, others less so. Some cooling periods have been longer term and led to past ice ages. Some warming periods led to warming of equatorial zones for a long period. But cooling follows. And warming.
During the cycle shifts, weather patterns change. El Nina and El Nino patterns develop in the USA as Pacific Ocean current temperatures change. Those water temperatures affect wind currents, jet streams and moisture content of air masses shoved about by the winds. Over land this phenomena alters our land temperatures and precipitation patterns. Thus we get more rain or less, or more snow or less, at higher or lesser temperatures. The patterns vary by region because the mechanism affecting the local weather is far away. And highly variable.
The real telling of the problem is at the margins where temperature changes are noticeable for a period of time. Polar ice caps are such marginal regions. If ice caps are shrinking over a growing period of time, if water levels are rising along coastal regions elsewhere, if ice formation in Polar Regions has slowed, then we can state with assurance that global warming is occurring. How long has it been such? How long will this phenomena continue? To what effect eventually will this process have on the globe and specifically our own neighborhood?
No one can say. These cycles are not predictable. They vary.
How inconvenient!
Public policy might have a role to play in addressing global warming. Once we are sure the condition exists, two questions emerge; first, is there a human cause, and one that is making it worse? And second, what can and should we do about it?
Scientists are fairly certain that human use of fossil fuels has played a role in destroying the ozone layer that protects Earth from ultraviolet rays and uncontrolled global warming. How much of the ozone destruction is caused by this is not yet quantified, nor may it be possible to know. The scientific community does generally agree, however, that we can lessen the impact we have on the Earth’s atmosphere and global health. No consensus is yet available on what long term effect this will have on global warming specifically.
So we are left with this sole question: do we do anything about global warming?
Some say yes while others say no. Curiously this has become a political issue among conservatives and liberals. The former believe the issue will cause regulation and control of individual freedom while the latter believe we should care for the planet if we know what that care can be as quantified and procedural.
The critical issue it seems to me is do we do anything or not? Once answered, it is a question only of how much do we do? Under performing doesn’t do any good while over reaching is too costly and restricting of personal decision making.
I guess we have to consider what we give up if we do nothing. And here we have to consider that the long-term effect may be felt not by us but by our grandchildren’s grandchildren. The Human Race must decide if it should protect life for generations to come, not just its current generation.
The penalty for doing nothing may be catastrophic global warming leading to severe coastal flooding and more damaging inland weather patterns. Doing something may lessen the severity of those effects. Perhaps not enough lessening, but some anyway?
It comes down to how we see ourselves as citizens of the Earth. Do we respect it, cherish it and protect it? By doing so we lengthen its hospitable condition in support of continued human life. By ignoring it we are possibly shortening the era of human life on the planet. Sort of like playing a deadly game of Russian roulette; if we win we live; if we lose we die; or someone does.
Can’t we at least consider life rather than its negative? Are we willing to be caretakers of the planet? Are we willing to be good citizens investing in the planet’s future? If yes, when do we make the commitment?
November 2, 2011
We ARE caretakers of the planet and we are getting better at it each year. I remember days of filthy streets (trash), smokestacks, soot, and black smoke from intentionally burning old tires and used oil. That stuff is gone today, thanks mostly to our collective interest in being good stewards.
ReplyDeleteI am less concerned about my grandchildrens' grandchildren than I am about people alive today downing handfuls of drugs and living in a world so full of toxins that we're all becoming chronically ill.