I recently read a particularly nasty question in a blog the other day. The question was, “Is it Al Gore stupid or Michael Moore stupid to believe in global warming?” Although the question might be considered distasteful, it is not at all surprising if you have been following the political debates over the environmental movement. It’s become very common for arguments to be riddled with name calling and belittling with no real substance. These attacks fly around the airwaves and on the internet in emails and blogs.
The political arena has turned this very real issue into nothing more than a battle cry and the term “global warming” puts many people into a tailspin. What’s really at stake is the health of our planet and our standard of living. It’s time we stop worrying about the political bickering, stop wasting our efforts and hard earned money and begin dealing with the real facts.
Neigh Sayers argue that what’s happening to our planet is just the natural cycle of climate change. What they don’t mention is that these natural cycles normally take place over thousands of years. Sudden changes usually only happen after a huge natural disaster such as the eruption of Krakatoa. The increased changes we’ve seen since the industrial revolution began have been man-made. The changes have been much more dramatic in the last few decades with the increase of industry, number of cars on the road and the population explosion.
I’m a Believer because I have seen the changing climate in my own home town where I’ve lived off and on for most of my life. There are some places where the air and water are cleaner but that’s because man-made fixes have cleaned up man-made messes. In my city this is not so even though it is finally attempting to go more green. There are fewer snowfalls, more droughts, it gets warmer earlier in the year and our hot season starts in June instead of late July or August. Our air quality used to be good but on some days I can see the haze just by looking at the houses across the street. I don’t need a weather alert to tell me when the ground ozone is at a dangerous level. I just have to walk outside of my house and feel the throbbing headache that won’t go away until the ozone clears.
Political arguments have delayed our efforts to clean up our planet and we are pumping money into the pockets of the politicians and the oil and coal industries who are causing the delays. The answer is very simple. We have to stop waiting for the politicians to fix things for us and take personal responsibility. Going green is the practical thing to do and it’s a less stressful and more pleasant way to live. As individuals we might not be able to clean up the whole world but we do have the individual power not to add to the problem.
It doesn’t matter if you believe in global warming or not. We all want to breathe clean air, to drink fresh water and enjoy good health. We must clean up after ourselves and stop our over consumption of products made by industries that dump toxins into our atmosphere and water supplies. We can increase our national security and create more jobs by not using so much oil and oil based products and switch to clean energy wherever possible. We can become healthier by not loading our bodies down with so many chemicals. We must stop dumping our messes into our neighbors’ yards.
No matter what our political ideology is, no matter if we believe Earth needs saving or not, we must see that political attacks and our attacks against each other get us nowhere. The fact is, going green saves money and that’s something most of need and want. We must stop waiting on the politicians and make the small, inexpensive and free changes in our lives that can make a big positive impact on our environment and our pocketbooks.
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