Cape Karen
It's a topic no one wants to even think about. We want to pretend is isn't really happening. We want to think that Katrina, Wilma and Rita were just last year's temporary weather 'flukes.' But, judging by the insurer's of property along the coastlines in this country, even they know better. They're now raising their rates by as much as 75%, and some are even refusing to offer any insurance at all to homeowners living in coastal communities. We really do wish that people would stop talking about it, and that it would just go away. But, according to ALL the leading scientists around the world, I'm afraid (literally) that it's here to stay.
Global warming is real. It is happening. But, they also say that it's not too late to reduce it's effects. . .yet.
If we, as part of the global community, don't act quickly . . .then it could be 'too little, too late,' and that's why I've decided to become an active participant, and do whatever I can to keep this topic at the forefront of current conversations in D.C. and elsewhere. After all, let's face it, we have a President who has buried his head in the sand regarding environmental issues ~ and he's dug his head in especially deep on this particular topic. Because of his lack of leadership in the matter of our planet's health, and his refusal to believe what the scientists have discovered about new and alarming climate changes, he still stubbornly insists that this global warming "trend" is just natural. (Of course, to believe otherwise would threaten future oil production, and we all know how important that is.) With this kind of leadership in place, we remain the ONLY polluting country in the free world that is not doing anything at a high government level about this burgeoning threat.
Not only does our fearless leader want to ignore the real threats posed by this topic - he wants others to shut the hell up about it, too:
"The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out about global warming ever since he gave a lecture in Iowa in January 2004, calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases. The scientist, James E. Hansen, longtime director of the agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in an interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to 'review' his coming lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard Web site and any requests for interviews from journalists. "They feel their job is to be the censor of information going out to the public," Dr. Hansen said. (He also said he would ignore the imposed restrictions.)
Although we can't fight global warming with tanks and bombs, it's a far more dangerous threat to our well-being than a terrorist attack ~ because it will affect everything. . . everywhere. . . forever. And, we're on our own, folks! It's up to us as concerned citizens to keep the pressure on. . . to refuse to 'shut the hell up' and ignore it.
From all I've read about it lately, it looks as if we'd better stop a lot of what we're doing to perpetuate the problem immediately. It sounds as if we'd better quickly find permanent new ways to fuel our automobiles and to power our factories across the globe. It sounds like the EPA needs to stop allowing the lobbyist's to pay them off, thereby allowing big businesses to continue spewing carbon dioxide, fossil fuels and other ozone depleting toxins into our atmosphere until 2010. Otherwise, according to the scientists - (not just some 'doomsday' predictions of Nostradamus) - the strange weather we have been witnessing over the last few years is going to become more commonplace ~ and it will get worse. From floods to famines - storms to starvation, that's what's in our children's future (and possibly our own) if nothing is done, promptly, to try and reverse it.
I don't mean to sound like an "alarmist", but how else can I speak of a matter that's already affecting life on this planet in such a dramatic and negative way? The effects of increased, human-enhanced global warming are already impacting the lives of many of our brothers and sisters across the sea, not to mention endangered animal species throughout the world. The ocean has already wiped-out entire communities . . . not viá earthquake-driven tsunami's, or big hurricanes, but by the recent rising ocean levels, worldwide, that have permanently eroded entire coastlines. Forest fires have increased globally, the Greenland ice cap is melting for the first time in 5,000 years, the Arctic is having longer summers, etc. The signs are everywhere, and we need to pay close attention to them.
Nope - I don't want to emulate Mr. Bush and stubbornly pretend it isn't happening, or self-righteously insist that it's just a 'natural' event. I don't want to think that I did nothing to try to urge my government to wake up. I don't want to remain ignorant and unaware. As scary as it is, I want to stay abreast of all that is happening (or not) in regard to this pivotal environmental issue. You see, I believe that the "power of one" is real, and that my voice does matter. Obviously, there is no quick fix for these environmental problems, and that's why we must all demand that our government take some immediate, preventative actions.
First of all, the U.S. needs to re-join the Kyoto Protocol. I'm down-right embarrassed, and even ashamed as an American, that we are the only super-power that copped-out, by withdrawing in 2001 from these important discussions. (And, I'll bet most American's don't even know what the Kyoto Protocol is all about. . . if that includes you ~ please, Google it today and educate yourself.)
Yup. . . it's better late, than never. . . to start giving a damn. So, I've joined the march and I've added my little voice to all the big voices here:
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/marchers/featured.asp
Please, won't you join the virtual "March on Washington" with me. . . your voice, your statement, your blog or website 'banner,' really do matter ~
Thanks!
Posted by Karen at March 23, 2006 1:00 PM