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Monday, July 06, 2009

Earth Doesn't Care Whether We Survive

By Mark Walker
Albuquerque resident
          First, I want to congratulate our new U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich for his recent yes vote on the Climate Bill. It's good to see the new guy is on the path of rational action.
        Second, I want to ask why, now that the past 30 years has shown us Jimmy Carter's environmental efforts as President were on the right track, do we still fight about the necessity to curb our energy appetite and to find alternatives to our energy needs/wants?
        Third, it isn't just a climate change issue. We've boxed ourselves into an energy security problem with our shockingly obese energy appetite. At this point it doesn't even really matter which of the energy issues you buy into, we have to curb our hydrocarbon fuel use drastically, not just substantially, and also find alternative sources for the energy that will have to be consumed to keep civilization as we know it going.
        Look, we have to stop thinking this is a "Save the Planet" issue. Earth doesn't "care" one way or the other if humans go the way of the dinosaurs. The planet has weathered climate swings far worse than a hot millennium, or two, or three, or 10. In fact, what's blisteringly hot to us is exactly nothing to the only planet humans will ever call home.
        If you have trouble visualizing the problem, consider your favorite iced refreshment beverage. What happens if it is allowed to sit a little too long so the cubes melt away. Besides being diluted beyond tastiness, it's warm — completely unappealing and useless for it's purpose. What do you do with it then? Down the drain.
        Your beverage is a model of the environment that sustains your life — Earth.
        Earth's obviously disintegrating glaciers and Arctic and Antarctic ice were represented by the now melted cubes in your drink. The dillution represents the lost harbors, former beaches and expensive real estate taken over by slightly larger oceans.
        Unfortunately, Earth has no "bartender" to bail you out. That one beverage was the only one you were ever going to have, and now it's gone. Sure we can hide out from the impact of the current changes now, but your grandchildren actually face the world I'm describing.
        Our only shot to avoid that outcome is to make several substantial efforts to alter the current course of the climate. I say several, because, being humans, there's a good chance some things we may try will turn out as poorly as the uncontrolled experiment we've been running on the air we breath for the past century.
        So I suggest: Have a nice tall glass of iced tea and think a while about those grandkids.