EARTH CHANGE
WHATCHA GONNA DO ABOUT IT?
Face it, no matter what you think about Climate Change, it’s confusing.
Out of the clear blue, you’re supposed to know what’s what about Planet Earth, so you can express your opinion when challenged.
From ‘nothing to see here’, to life ending catastrophe, this changing planet has confronted us with a new outlook on everyday life.
Let’s go back in time and picture some random Human on a beach, casually looking out to sea and spotting the biggest wave ever, coming straight at him.
This guy has never seen satellite data, no local politician has come to him asking for support of a program to fund a seawall, and he is totally alone on the beach.
He has one thought.
RUN!
Head inland as fast as his legs will take him, hoping to stay ahead of certain death.
This guy is lucky, he makes it up the face of a nearby bluff, where he watches as the wave crashes ashore and floods everything around him as far as he can see in all directions.
Boulders big enough to steamroll his entire village are rolling in, with large trees and all sorts of debris thrashing through the water.
There are also bodies of other people floating and bobbing in the surf.
This giant wave has clearly swept over the nearby island and destroyed everything in its path.
Suddenly, with a whoosh and a roar like he’s never heard before, the wave recedes and goes out as fast as it came in.
Standing on his solitary promontory, his mind races with thoughts of, what now?
Is it coming back?
Should I try to get away and head to the village, or wait it out in case the wave returns?
Is anybody else left alive?
How far do I have to go to reach safety?
Let’s leave him there for now, and move back to present time.
Whatever Tectonic shift caused the Tsunami has long settled.
The ensuing volcanic activity passes, and the planet enters a time of relative peacefulness.
So peaceful, in fact, that Earth now has almost 8 billion other humans on her surface.
We have thrived during this calmer time, and along the way we’ve developed all manner of devices that serve to warn us when catastrophic events like the Tsunami are headed our way.
But there’s still no way to stop one from occurring if nature tosses us a curve.
Look at Climate Change like a slow moving Tsunami of doubt, filled with mental debris, boulders of ignorance, and the added issue of self serving agendas being spewed by those who would profit from that doubt.
Climate Change, as presented, is as much a product of our newfound ability to predict, but not prevent, as it is of overusing fossil fuels.
That said, here we stand, searching for answers, filled with the same questions as that guy had way back when.
What now?
There is no doubt that planet Earth is going through noticeable changes in real time.
Previous, much more extreme and violent changes went unnoticed and only became evident through studies of our past history by Earth Scientists.
Today, with satellite technology and highly sophisticated devices for measuring temperatures and sea levels, we have moment to moment data pouring in.
In the recent few decades, we've learned more about this planet than was previously known in all of Human history.
I learned as a child, in the 1950s, that the Ice Age ended a little over 10,000 years ago.
Well Folks, current observations show that it's still happening.
The poles are still warming and the glaciers are still receding.
What I was taught has proven to be wrong, due to shortsightedness on our part.
Earth Scientists needed to present answers, they came up with an arbitrary date for the end of the Ice Age, and it became fact, taught in every school in the land.
Millions of people entered adulthood basing their future outlook on misinformation.
A lot of those kids failed tests in school because they didn't memorize that misinformation as per the history books.
Missing that one answer, resulting an a D instead of a C grade on that particular test, prevented a lot of people from going on to higher education.
And, in hindsight the answer has been proven wrong.
But, it's too late to change the D to a C for those people.
Their lives were forever changed.
This is just one example of the biggest issue we face in understanding what's going on around us.
As Humans, we have a major flaw when it comes to passing along knowledge.
The vast majority of us see everything in the timeframe of a lifetime.
It's all that really matters.
What's going to happen while I am here to experience it?
What effect will it have on me?
For example, my parents lived through the stock market crash, the Great Depression, and went directly to WWII before they turned 30.
By the 1950s, they were busy raising a family and building America for the future of their family and for all the others who had lived through the same period of time.
There was a common sense of great unity, stemming from their shared experiences.
It was all for one, and one for all.
We The People had meaning.
In the 1960s, things started to come apart at the seams for those people.
All for one became me, me, me.
I won't bore you with the details because since those fateful 1960s we have had media overkill.
Everybody knows what happened.
It's all there on your iphone.
Which brings us to today.
Let's start here.
We live with a lot of misinformation, some of it innocent, like being wrong about the Ice Age, but most of it is agenda driven, pushed through the media machine by those who see opportunity in one outlook or the other.
That is the situation we face in today's raging debate over Climate Change.
Those who say there is no such thing, it's all a hoax, see a chance to profit from continued use of Fossil Fuels during their lifetime.
Those who live in fear of the changing environment, attempt to see forward and dread what will happen to their offspring in a world altered by Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide ( ACO2 ).
The 'it's all a hoax' proponents teach their offspring not to care what happens to anyone else...'Capitalize and develop a winning lifestyle that will put you above the fray, unaffected by what may happen to those unfortunates who get stuck in the downside of Climate Change. You're a winner. They are losers.'
Not my problem, Man.
The idea of all for one and one for all has, like Elvis, left the building for those above the fray.
We The People is meaningless to the winners.
Those who wake up afraid, and teach that fear to their children, are losing because they care.
STOP sending your children into the streets with placards saying, "Please, Sir, save our planet!"
It's like reliving Oliver Twist, asking The Man to provide for you because The Man is in power.
Do you really want to teach your children to live with their hands out, hoping for a crumb from The Man?
STOP it now!
It's time to start making hay while the sun shines, not cowering in fear of the unknown.
Today's scientists have shown us a lot in a very short time.
I seriously doubt they are any more right than those who stated that the Ice Age ended 10, 000 years ago.
They too suffer from the 'in my lifetime' syndrome.
Science is a publish or perish world.
Documents and data must be presented for Peer Review, and if those scientists are to arrive at a place of renown for their work, it has to happen in their lifetime to enjoy the rewards.
They're trying, but none are certain of their theses, ever.
This is a dynamic situation, with daily changes.
You and I are living through those changes, and learning as we go, just like my parents on their journey from crash, to depression, to war, to the 50s, and beyond.
Keep it up.
We'll figger it out, and once again it will become all for one and one for all.
We The People will prevail, it's what we do.
Here's my suggestion for where we can start.
Let's get to it.
Time's awastin'.
