Michael and Chuck; Good points all. It's too bad that issues as important as our environment and our responsibility to care for our natural resources get politicized as they do. I appreciate your responses and have learned something in the process. I did not know that our sun was a variable star. (Guess I never really thought about it). Also, the information about water on Mars was very interesting. In my humble opinion, the sharing of knowledge is the best way of helping all to have a better understanding of the world we live in and how to live in it better. Thanks again. Ed --- Michael Carnes <MichaelCarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:
There are actually 2 parts to this issue:
1) Other than a few cranks, there's no one who doubts global warming. The question is 'what is causing it?'. There is convincing evidence that at least a good portion of it may be human-caused. There is also geological and astronomical evidence that there are natural cycles at play. Perhaps it's a combination of the two. Perhaps one's working against the other. For some people, it's an intensely political question, so let's set it aside for a sec.
2) This is the important one. What are we going to do about it? Whatever the cause of warming, it's going to affect life on earth. How do we prepare for --and possibly reduce--its effects? Climate change appears to be inevitable--there's evidence for this long before there were people to blame it on. Climate change may mean a net loss of arable land. Can the earth continue to support its current 7 billion or so people? Tropical diseases like malaria will move closer to the poles. With the declining effectiveness of various medications, what does this mean for the health of future generations? One can easily extrapolate other consequences. Pick your poison.
All in all, it would appear to be simple practicality to learn to live a little less large. By learning to reduce energy consumption, pollutant generation, water usage, etc, we might better prepare ourselves for changes that now appear to be inevitable. Humans don't appear to be very good at this. This globe is littered with ruined civilizations that managed to outstrip their resources, ignoring every warning sign along the way. It would be nice to be the exception to this rule.
-mc
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