Full disclosure before I begin: I am not a scientist/meteorologist/politician – just a common man who was blessed to grow up around people who had a lot of common sense – I suppose part of it must have rubbed off or stuck with me, at least I’d like to think so. This post will be long, but it is a very complex topic that is emotionally charged – for good reason. We would all like to think we are good stewards of this planet we call home. This post is not meant to point fingers or assign blame; there is more than enough of that going around. I hope you will put aside any preconceived notions you may have concerning global warming/climate change, and think logically and critically as you work your way through this 4 hour read. HA! As a final disclosure, I must admit that I believe mankind is the only creature on earth that cannot live in “harmony” – the central aspect of this blog. I believe global warming/climate change is real – I also believe that if we (as a species) don’t address it head on, we will go the way of the dinosaurs. Whether you think it is real or a hoax, I hope you will see there is a way to address it without pointing fingers or arguing about who is wrong and who is right. My prayer is that we can reach a consensus before it is too late.
I ran across an article yesterday that stopped me dead in my tracks. It opened my eyes, but troubled my soul. Before I go any farther, I ask you to read this article and watch the attached video.
My observation on global warming runs parallel with Pascal’s Wager (see attached link)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager. If we install measures to combat global warming – whether it exists or not – the measures will have minimal negative effect should global warming be found to be a myth. If anything, it will lead to cleaner water, air, and land. It will involve a large financial investment – true enough – but what are the earth and our future generations worth? Failure to act, on the other hand, will probably lead to human extinction – a sure extinction if the scientists are right. A large percentage of scientists agree that global warming is indeed happening – most have been calling for action for quite a while now.
https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
Most climate change deniers use the argument that sea levels have not increased at the pace scientists predicted they would. This fails to take into account 3 factors that impact water levels – for fresh and salt water.
Those 3 factors are: increased human population and activity, modern “storage” methods, and CO2 increase in the atmosphere multiplied by the loss of plants and trees which convert CO2 into oxygen through photosynthesis.
In my lifetime (50 years), global population has doubled – from 3.5 billion to over 7.7 billion.
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/
The human body is 60% water. If the average human weighs 150lbs, then 90lbs of their weight is water. 90 X 4,200,000,000 (increase in pop 1968-2019) = 378,000,000,000lbs of water walking around and not in the water “cycle”. This does not include the water necessary to grow food that feeds the extra population, nor the amount of water we have “stored” in bottled water, soft drinks, water towers, etc.
Less fresh water in the system = less ocean water in the system. The ice caps are melting to replenish the water we rob from the system.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rivers-run-dry/
https://phys.org/news/2018-03-dead-sea-revival-red-canal.html
https://www.livescience.com/2295-lake-mead-dry-2021.html
CO2 levels in the atmosphere have risen dramatically since the industrial revolution. We tend to blame it on burning fossil fuels – as though the “only” solution is green technology. Green tech is wonderful, but another large piece to the puzzle is plant and tree loss due to human habitation and forest fires (which also add CO2 to the atmosphere).
https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/
I have a theory that “global warming” could possibly go in 2 different directions. Sure, melting ice caps and glaciers could cause sea levels to rise – the fear cited most often when discussing global warming. However, at the rate we are overusing fresh water – i.e. rivers not reaching the ocean and fresh water lakes receding – it could be possible that we use more fresh water than the ice caps are replacing. In that case, the entire water cycle could break down and cease to operate. The fresh water has to come from somewhere to keep the engine running.
So, what is the answer? Again, I am by no means a scientist, nor do I claim to have any and/or all answers to this conundrum. But I do have some suggestions. Can we find a way to slow – and maybe reverse – population growth? Can we plant 3 trees for every 1 we kill or burns up in a forest fire? Can we find some way to live in harmony with earth – use cleaner energy sources – and break our addiction to fossil fuels? This entire post began after reading the Guardian article above. This August, Good Lord willing, I will become a grandfather. For her to have any future at all, we must find a way to live in harmony and stop killing our planet. Right now, it is the only home we have. I will leave it up to these wise country boys to expound on it.