are we exaggerating global warming?

Polar bears exaggerating claims of global warming

Ok, so are we exaggerating global warming?

No one would have followed Martin Luther King if he had said “I have a nightmare”, as mentioned by energy secretary Ed Miliband.

We need to unite in being good to this earth.  It has been so good to all of us.  I am  hopeful that the decision makers representing the world in Copenhagen are uniting in the dream — and not denying the nightmare.

We all know the nightmare –> So many pictures of people riding bikes in China through polluted air with face masks.  Stories of asthmatic children in the Bronx breathing diesel fumes.  Photos of decapitated mountains in West Virginia and the subsequent coal muck escaping in to small towns.  Growth was so big and so fast that sewage spilled in to drinking water in Florida.  Many fists pound many tables when you suggest that economic gains can be achieved through sustainable living that preserves this rare jewel we call Earth.

Polluters love muddling the facts, and making fun of the nightmarish scenarios.  Some scientists  actually feed the machine that is profiting currently.  The collaborative machine of industry, shipping, air flights, hospitals, manufacturers, and on and on are horrified by the idea of changing energy production and usage. We have evolved to need cheap stuff, more than we need liberty, freedom, water, food, shelter and coffee.

 

 

 

Copenhagen_rush_hour 

 

So lets describe the dream… Andrew Gilligan wrote an article for the telegraph.co.uk…“ Copenhagen is a city filled entirely with bicycles, stuffed with retrofitted, energy-efficient old buildings, and seems to embody the civilized pleasures of low-carbon living without any of the puritanism”.

Costa Rica produces 99% of its energy from renewable sources, reversed deforestation and is aiming to become a carbon-neutral country by 2021 by combining its ministries of energy and environment, and abolishing its army. Abolishing armies will probably never happen world wide, there will always be bad guys to fight.  We can dream though.  Other small island nations such as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are also fairing well in levels of health and a very low footprint.

A Gristy guide to the COP15 climate talks
We need to stop being so full of ourselves because we are hanging our clothes on the line and carrying our water in a glass jar.  We need to help young smart people get in to colleges that promote environmental engineering and require environmental awareness in their curriculum.  Industry and manufacturing can make products sustainably.  It can be done and is being done. Lets study how they’re doing it.  Lets study the countries that are successfully achieving sustainability.

There is a little island country — the Maldives?  They have successfully figured out how to keep their sea turtles and their tourists happy.
bora-bora-22bora-bora-21
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There are many nightmares to learn from.  Bhopal is a nightmare to remember.  Do you remember?  A cloud of poison gas leaked from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in the middle of the night and drifted over the Bhopal slums killing thousands.

Union Carbide convinced India that the big new plant they were going to build in Bhopal was going to make their lives better, improve the economy and they’d be happier.  We need to be careful when companies and the politicians they pay for claim to care about our happiness and well being.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 1:15 pm and is filed under environment, politics, science, why do you let things bother you. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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