A hot button debate of this era is that over climate change. There is no denying that the global climate, as of late, has been warming; but is this trend actually ‘global warming?’ Personally, I am befuddled over the ongoing debate and duly confused on how we got to this point in our national discussion. Being the moderate, neo-libertarian, yet paleo-conservative that I am, I realize entertaining the thought of global warming as possibility is to fray Republican Party lines… but why is that?
There are factions within the Republican base that somehow, all oppose environmental action. I believe the values voters have distorted the conversation over climate change with an illogical thought progression that goes like this: “The scientific data collected with regards to evolution contradicts strict Biblical teaching, so scientists are bad. And if scientists are bad in this instance, then anything scientists say regarding the environment and nature is bad. So the data collected regarding global warming is wrong, and furthermore, inherently evil. So human-related global warming doesn’t exist! Don’t believe me? I have a scientist here with me to dispute the hundreds of scientists saying otherwise.”
I also believe the economic conservatives are too near-sighted to imagine the application of green/clean technology would have on the economy. Imposing guidelines rewarding environmental stewardship would, in fact, hurt companies unwilling to act with regard to our earth. Meanwhile, we keep sucking up oil, an action that continues to tether us to the Middle East, which cultivates some strange bedfellows, and in return they hold our economy hostage, if stable. But it’s stable! Let’s cut taxes, promote free trade, all these good conservative actions, to remain stable. Meanwhile, we pay $200,000 a minute for foreign oil, push 70 million cubic tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere a day, and turn a blind eye to the reality at hand.
What a sad commentary on the devaluation of our earth. Nevertheless, climate change is a concern to most of us, if not the ultra-conservative base. The hyper-partisan debate that has ensued serves as one example of our currently debilitated national political structure. But if I could, I’d like to do a little bit more of what Kurt Vonnegut called “persuasive guessing” of my own.
This earth is a closed system, due to our beloved, now repaired, ozone layer. This summer, as the earth warmed, a copious amount of ice melted off the western coast of the Arctic ice shelf. The ice was roughly equivalent to the square footage of Greenland. This winter, as the earth cools, that displaced water will become ice, somewhere. Remember last winter’s “Lake Effects Ice” in the Midwest? These are the effects I’m talking about, just on a greater scale. I believe the Earth will regulate and repair itself, with little regard to humans occupying it. The thrashing of the earth we currently observe (ie tornadoes, ice storms, floods, droughts, etc) is going to occur, if not due to us, then with little regard for us. Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “In Wildness is the preservation of the world.” That’s more than just poetry.
And so today, in February, while it is 80F in Norfolk, Virginia, (30 degrees greater than normal), we see ice storms elsewhere, devastating China, Canada, and the Midwest again. What is the cause of all of this? We may never fully know, but we do know what impact our activities on earth have, and that we can adjust. If we do not, then the earth will adjust its activities, and that is something we might not be able to live through. For more on what we can do and why, see the letter sent to my Senators and three Texas Representatives (on this website).
We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country. – Abraham Lincoln