Global Warming is Stupid
Do you believe in global warming? What a stupid question. And what a stupid foundation for environmental debate.
Who cares about ice caps? I've never been there, so I won't miss them. And if the climate changes, I'll put on a sweater or a swimsuit, or both.
But what really bothers me is that it takes up the whole conversation.
We also need to be talking about: soil erosion and toxification, water contamination and depletion, air pollution, deforestation, species extinction, homogenization or decimation of indigenous cultures. We're cutting the foundation away from under our feet.
Food comes from the ground. If we ruin the ground, (which our current industrial agriculture does), we run out of food and die. Such societal collapses have happened before, on a smaller scale. And you don't want to be there when the food runs out, because people start eating eachother.
Fish populations have collapsed recently, and with them the fishermen's livelihood, one more source of food for us, and an integral component of that ecosystem. Overfishing, combined with the steady stream of industrial waste we pour into our drinking water, is turning our oceans into pits of slime.
And beehives are collapsing, which makes me sad.
Why the sudden onset of environmental damage out of countless of eons of abundance on earth?
Because the human population of the earth has exploded in the past 200 years.
Imagine being in small room with one other person, and that person farts. Pretty gross. Now imagine that the room is so full of people that you're pushed up against the wall between a sweaty guy with his crack hanging out and a whiny teenager on a cellphone. Now, instead of one fart, there's thousands of farts. You'd probably all get asphyxiated.
That's comparable to the increase of stress put on our environment.
Everything that we've always done is now being done on a mass scale. The earth's resources are being depleted by greedy and conspiring men at the expense of future generations.
You think leaving a few trillion dollars in debt to our children is bad. Imagine leaving them in a world were the soil is infertile, the water undrinkably polluted, and the ocean devoid of fish. By then, cannibalism won't sound so bad.
And that's the point. The earth will be fine. We are the ones who will die. After a ten or twenty thousand years without us the earth will be good as new. So it's not the earth we need to worry about, it's us.
CLARIFICATION: Overpopulation is not the problem. The earth has enough and to spare. It's the way we use our resources that matter. You can plant a garden that enriches the soil, or you can plant one that destroys it. And our industrial system does the latter.
Who cares about ice caps? I've never been there, so I won't miss them. And if the climate changes, I'll put on a sweater or a swimsuit, or both.
But what really bothers me is that it takes up the whole conversation.
We also need to be talking about: soil erosion and toxification, water contamination and depletion, air pollution, deforestation, species extinction, homogenization or decimation of indigenous cultures. We're cutting the foundation away from under our feet.
Food comes from the ground. If we ruin the ground, (which our current industrial agriculture does), we run out of food and die. Such societal collapses have happened before, on a smaller scale. And you don't want to be there when the food runs out, because people start eating eachother.
Fish populations have collapsed recently, and with them the fishermen's livelihood, one more source of food for us, and an integral component of that ecosystem. Overfishing, combined with the steady stream of industrial waste we pour into our drinking water, is turning our oceans into pits of slime.And beehives are collapsing, which makes me sad.
Why the sudden onset of environmental damage out of countless of eons of abundance on earth?
Because the human population of the earth has exploded in the past 200 years.
Imagine being in small room with one other person, and that person farts. Pretty gross. Now imagine that the room is so full of people that you're pushed up against the wall between a sweaty guy with his crack hanging out and a whiny teenager on a cellphone. Now, instead of one fart, there's thousands of farts. You'd probably all get asphyxiated.That's comparable to the increase of stress put on our environment.
Everything that we've always done is now being done on a mass scale. The earth's resources are being depleted by greedy and conspiring men at the expense of future generations.
You think leaving a few trillion dollars in debt to our children is bad. Imagine leaving them in a world were the soil is infertile, the water undrinkably polluted, and the ocean devoid of fish. By then, cannibalism won't sound so bad.
And that's the point. The earth will be fine. We are the ones who will die. After a ten or twenty thousand years without us the earth will be good as new. So it's not the earth we need to worry about, it's us.CLARIFICATION: Overpopulation is not the problem. The earth has enough and to spare. It's the way we use our resources that matter. You can plant a garden that enriches the soil, or you can plant one that destroys it. And our industrial system does the latter.
The middle finger picture is a nice touch. When I'm trying to be a better Christian, flipping people off is the first thing I do.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that this post critiques our lack of engagement in important conversations about food.
ReplyDeleteAnd then an anonymous commenter zeroes in on Earth flipping the bird—showing a total lack of engagement in the important conversation about food.
I can see anonymous' point, but isn't there something wrong here?
Overpopulation is an issue. The church stance that "the earth has enough and to spare". For what? Life? How about the quality of life that is adversely affected by over population. Travel to Mexico City or San Paulo where shanty town populations exceed what we see in our state population and tell me this is desirable.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog. COG.
Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems.
ReplyDeleteLivestock-rearing generates more greenhouse gases than transportation according to a 2006 report from the United Nations (U.N.)
The production of livestock contributes 9% of carbon dioxide, 65% of nitrous oxide, and 37% of methane produced from human-related activities. Both methane (23 times) and nitrous oxide (296 times) are considerably more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.
not to mention all the water wasted during livestock production, and the billions of tons of grain fed to these animals
I'm not a vegetarian yet, but now I'm serious considering it!
Excellent point. I ALMOST didn't like you when I saw the title of your post (environmental politics was one of my favorite classes) but I agree with you completely. Global warming is simply the catch phrase (or climate change, take your pick) that stuck. Sadly, it is really easy to ignore and dismiss as a nonissue. Not having enough food - not so easy to dismiss, but most people don't make the connection. My Aunt & Uncle used to keep bees at their home in New Hampshire, but a few years ago they all disappeared. Have you read Michael Pollan's An Omnivore's Dilemma? Good eye opener, especially having recently moved from Nebraska. Keep preaching! I say amen to your post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adrienne. I have read The Omnivore's Dilemma. Excellent. I'm sorry to hear about the bees. I wonder what's happening to them?
ReplyDeleteAnnon on March 13th commented about "being a better Christian...". I believe the author of this site is a Mormon.
ReplyDelete