climate change=death

The threat of global climate change to human health is great. Unfortunately, it is the elderly, very young and very poor in developing countries who will bear the brunt of human fatalities. As our atmosphere heats up, the lack of fresh water and water borne disease increase due to floods, droughts and heat waves. In turn, this will create a domino effect, not only affecting our health, but the implications it will have on our fragile health care system. We will see increases in diseases such as cholera, malaria, and diarrhea. Furthermore, vegetation, agriculture and farming fields could be wiped out due to severe and frequent changes in percipitation. Then we'd have to worry if we have enough food supply to feed people. If we don't, we can see a spike in malnutrition, inflation and deaths. With an overburdened health care system here in the U.S., how would we expect less wealthy nations to care for their sick? Human health is affected by many co-factors, some are political, social and individual behavior. I believe we have failed on all aspects, and if we don't do more to curb the emissions of greenhouse gasses our health care system will be stressed and tested to its limit. (image source)

Surfing for Global Warming

We've heard of .com, .edu, .net, and .org, but have you ever heard of a .eco? If you answered no, well, your not alone. It appears that surfing (image source) for global warming just got a little easier. Former vice president Al Gore and his philanthropy, the Alliance for Climate Protection along with Dot Eco LLC are teaming up to provide a space for "individuals to express their support for environmental causes, for companies to promote their envronmental initiatives, and for environmental organizations to maintain their websites." Just when i thought the internet was all inclusive, here come the .eco's. I don't know how necessary it is to have a domain exclusively for environmental causes. I always thought the other domains did a pretty good job at marketing global warming initiatives, and along with the blogging world, enough space for supporters to express their ideas, thoughts, and yes...feelings. But i guess it's not all really about expressing ourselves, but about making a profit while we are at it. You see, ICANN will apparently make money from this venture as well. They are responsible for overseeing creations of domains and the more hits a domain gets..the more money ICANN stands to gain. The business of global warming is not cheap, could we see something like the .com bust of the 90's transform to the .eco bust of today? With all the hype of global warming and global climate change, a complete wipeout is unlikely, it will just add more noise to the static.

Global Warming Satire

I sometimes wonder if all the debate on global warming has become a joke. Political cartoons and the media have had a significant impact on how we view the issue of global warming and global climate change. What makes the news of course are the "end of the world" scenarios if we don't do somthing to stop global warming. In "The Happening" episode of South Park shown above (1:54), illustrates how much influence the fanatics of global warming has had on pop culture. Is this what it has come down to? Easy jabs at our political leaders, late nite comics over exagerating and compartamentalizing the issue to socialsit tree hugging hippies? Global warming has been talked to death that even the global warming jokes sometimes fall flat. But why are there jokes about global warming the the first place? Popular TV shows have illustrated how global warming has been percieved by our leaders for the past eight years such as Will Ferrell's vignette on SNL. It seems everywhere you go, the topic of global warming has become today's never ending reality TV show. One of those guilty pleasure shows we just can't seem to take our eyes away from. If this is such a concerning issue, why has it become late nite fodder? Is this our way or resigning ourselves to the inevitable truth? I remember in a psychology class reading how when people get nervous they use humor as a defensive mechanism, or a way to deflect the issue by trivializing it. Well, i'm not a psychologist, but i'm beggining to feel that the media, while bringing attention to the issue, has been responsible for also decreasing the scientific message of global warming and has now become the laughing stock issue. The effects of global warming are real, and because we live in an industrialized wealthy nation where we may not feel it's effects directly, does not mean it's not happening. This article by Michael Specter who is a writer for The New Yorker writes about the impact of global climate change. The people who live in the slums of India i'm sure don't see the humor of global warming, instead they worry if the water they are drinking will kill them, or if there will be sufficient rain fall for vegetation. These are the stories that truely deserve front page exposure and perhaps then we can start doing something about global warming and stop making the issue into satire.

The Lies About Global Warming

Has the debate on global warming been a hoax? A scare tactic to manipulate the media and the people? How reliable are the claims by Al Gore (image source) and his tree hugging supporters? While i've always been one that cares about our planet , is the condition of our planet as extreme as many proponents of globla warming make it out to be? I've sometimes wondered, "what if these scientist got it all wrong?" i mean, they are only human, and science has been wrong in the past. While we see the ice caps contracting and the polar bears losing their habitat, all very powerful images to drive in the emotional claims of global warming, but not the whole truth. Patrick Michaels, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute states that "the discussion surrounding global warming has become wildly extreme, you either believe it's the end of the world unless we do something about it right now, or you're a denier." I personllay don't think it's the end of the world, but i don't think i'm a denier also. So where does that put me in? All these scientist spend so much money on fancy computer models, and charts all aruguing the effects of anthropogenic induced global warming. These charts all illustrate a doomsday scenario, but we don't talk about how the ice sheets of the south pole have actually expanded, we are living in a "cooling" world climate, the earth has experience many clyclical trends of cooling and warming in the past. Finally, climate is unpredictable! How often has our local meteorologist been wrong in predicting our local weather? Before we rush to judgements, we need to hear all sides of the story. I'm not here to write for or against global warming, but i have to admit, opponets of global warming make a compelling case. This short youtube video should convince you...one way or another. (4:47)

The environmental recession

For the first time since i've been keeping track of the dow jones industrial average, i saw it drop below the 7,000 point mark. Why do i care about how low it will go? Well...last year i turned 30 years old and i finally decided that i should start caring about my future. In my golden years, i want to be able to travel, and live a comfortable life. So, i decided to start investing into my 401k plan. I went really aggressive and deep. I was putting in 150$ a month and my employer was putting in 4% of my salary. I got really savvy about the market and saw my investments grow. So why am i telling you all this...well, i checked my balance this past weekend, called my financial advisor and after a long intervention i decided not to pull my money out. But i did decide to go more conservative since i had lost 30% in my investments in just a few short months. While this story is happening to many Americans i wondered how else this deep recession is afecting the causes i care about. I saw this article in the NY Times about a potential new pact on global climate change. I was thrilled that Mr. Obama and our government is spearheading these new negotiations on how to deal with global warming. But, i wondered...if we didn't make sweeping change in times of economic prosperity, why should i believe we would make sweeping change during economic hardships? The youtube video (1:30) asks us if we believe the economic recession will further delay environmental advancements. I have to admit, right now, i'm more concerned about my job security, my ever shrinking 401K (which i'm still contributing to but at a reduced monthly amount) and i'm concerned if i'll be able to get aid for school for next year. Going green is NOT cheap and while i care about the long term conditions our planet may face if we don't do anything now, i'm more concerned about the short term effects this poor economy will have directly on me. Is it possible to achieve job growth and a sustainable environmental future at the same time? (image source)