A Changing Climate

If there is one thing that really gets me worked up lately it's people who deny the sobering reality of climate change. Now I don't want to argue whether its man made or a natural occurrence because in the end it's doesn't matter. The climate is changing and placing blame isn't going to solve the problem. We are at the threshold of a major turning point in our relationship with the planet and things don't look too great for us.

The thing that I struggle with most is those who insist on ignoring the evidence and propagating the idea that we don't need to change anything about how we live and we don't need to worry about the amount of carbon that we're releasing into the atmosphere. I recently heard one such account.

This morning I was watching C-SPAN before I left for work and had the misfortune of hearing Rep John Shimkus (R-IL) and his view on climate change. I have never heard anything quite like it and decided to do some more investigating into this man. I was appalled. Here is one of his bold statements:

"It's plant food ... So if we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere? ... So all our good intentions could be for naught. In fact, we could be doing just the opposite of what the people who want to save the world are saying."

Now I was completely caught off guard by where this ideology so I dug a little deeper. One defense used for this argument cites the Cambrian Period when CO2 levels in the atmosphere were much higher than they are today. However they fail to mention that this is also a period in history in which most of the animals that survived did so by burrowing and vegetation all but went extinct. Is he advocating we need to start digging cities underground and finding ways to survive without plants for sustenance? I'll grab my shovel.

Now there is a another twist in the whole story. Rep Shimkus has more than one reason why not to be concerned with the changes in our climate:

"The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood."

Now I'm not sure what kind of church his is attending but this seem ludicrous to me. It seems like he's using his perception God's will as an excuse to be irresponsible and destructive. Now I'd love to find a scape goat that removes any responsibility that I might have but somewhere in my life I stumbled into a moral and social conscious. So using God as a scape goat is completely baffling to me and seems to border on sacrilege.

I urge all of you to write a letter to Rep Shimkus and tell him that we need real solutions to fight Climate Change, not excuses and theology based rhetoric. You can contact him here.

Now, I could go on all day about how disturbing this whole thing is to me, but I won't. I'd just like to leave you all with something to thing about.

To the naysayers: I urge you to consider the implication of your choices. I know that this climate change thing may seem like nonsense, but it's not and you're not the ones who will feel the effects of your actions. Please think of your children. You can either make an effort to make the world a better place for the future or stay in the status quo and gamble your grandchildrens fate.

To fellow supporters: Don't let small blips discourage your resolve. This is a fight that we can't afford to lose. It may seem like a constant uphill struggle but failure is not an option. Our very existence is at stake.

To generations yet to come: I'm sorry. I hope that you can forgive us for our ignorance and arrogance. It's a tragedy that you may pay the price for past follies. I hope for your sake that we open our eyes soon.

For more information about what you can do to help reverse the effects of climate change check out these sites:

We Can Solve It
1 Sky
Green For All

If there is an organization that I've missed send me a comment and I'll edit it into the list.