More Inconvenient Truth

More Inconvenient Truth

Ted Folkert

October 8, 2018

A film featuring Al Gore in 2006 called “An Inconvenient Truth” opened our eyes about the danger of global warming and the devastation it could cause for the sustainability of human life on the planet. Of course, the naysayers made fun of his analysis, calling him a tree-hugger and accusing him of crying “the-sky-is-falling,” for fear that it could cause some adverse effect on the vibrant economy, corporate wealth and power, and advancing living standards.

According to a recent disturbing report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it seems that anyone younger than me has some serious concerns to consider. Such considerations would include the major question: “do we want a planet which supports human life, or do we want to subscribe to steps to deter climate change now before it is past the point of no return”?

This report points out a far direr picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.” They point to the year 2040 as significant to turning this dangerous tide.

This isn’t a question or concern for a hundred years or a thousand years from now as we chose to think in the past. According to this panel of leading scientists, it is a concern for 22 years from now, a time when my children will be beyond middle age and my grandchildren will be middle age and perhaps raising children of their own. This must be of serious concern for all of us.

We all have a common mother, Mother Nature, and she isn’t happy with the way we are treating the planet she arranged for our pleasure. With massive earthquakes millions of years ago she buried millions of plants and animals which decayed and became what we now call fossils. We have not been satisfied with the comforts she provided for us initially and consequently have proceeded to dig up these fossils, which have become oil, coal, and natural gas, which we now call fossil fuels, and burn them to make life more comfortable and to transport ourselves around the planet at will. And, of course, as invention and development of more things to make life more comfortable and more fun came about, we found it necessary to burn more and more of these fossil fuels to erect and manufacture additional comfort and pleasures of life.

It seems that the time has come to pay the ultimate price for our constant pursuit of more comfort. Now we are told that the planet is warming due to burning of these fossil fuels and that such warming is causing the oceans to rise. This will result in much loss of land area along coastlines which will ultimately cause massive migration of displaced people around the globe.

This loss of land area along with our ever-increasing population will eventually result in a lack of adequate essential necessities of life which may create a new meaning to the term “survival of the fittest.” It could also render whole new verses for the old song: “Sooner Than You Think.”

Of course, our head-in-the-sand president calls all this scientific discovery a giant hoax. This isn’t a surprising take on the situation for him since any action taken to reduce this imminent threat could have an adverse effect on the hospitality and golfing industries in which he is engaged. And, what happens a few decades from now is far less important to him than his current earnings and protection of his illusory billion-dollar fortune. After all, he may not be able to depend upon the financial support of the Putin clan indefinitely, so he needs to milk the cow while she is in the barn and poo-poo any comments by the world’s most respected scientists that may deter his personal wealth, regardless of the demise of a billion displaced people.

Think about it!

 

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