The global warming debate irks me. It’s as if the number of degrees up or down or neither of Earth’s temperature affects whether someone chooses to throw their trash out the window or not. It irks me that, characteristic of America’s paralyzing bipartisanism, the issue should be as hotly debated as it is. The exact nature of the consequences doesn’t matter. What matters is that we confront the fact that pollution is bad and that we shouldn’t do it. Are we really going to wait for the sea level to wash away our coasts, or the ozone to disintegrate, or farmland to become infertile, or some other upheaval of life as we know it before we decide to cut down on consumption?
I’m confident that in a small part of everybody’s mind, there is recognition that our lifestyle—with plastics cluttering the oceans, the population ever-expanding, the clearance of natural habitat, copious burning of coal—is going to have repercussions on not just the environment but on our health, as well. We know that pollution is bad for us, bad for the Earth. So if you say global warming isn’t “real,” does this mean you are endorsing pollution? I would certainly hope not.
Seriously, people, with or without the climate changing (but seriously, check the scientific literature), don’t freaking pollute. Just don’t do it. Don’t be so self-centered as to drive a hummer and eat steak every night and leave your A/C running all day (“but I like it!” they whined). These luxuries are not sustainable, and they will come to an end. The world was not intended for our disposal. Us lovers of the planet (that’s everyone) ask all the people of the world to please cut down on these things. People can and do survive on much less, so allow yourself to sacrifice some of the luxury for the sake of our race and the land we share.
It is said that awareness is the first step towards instigating change.
You’re welcome, World.
Public Rumination 