Friday, March 02, 2007
TIPPED
I decided last night and now this article today by David Ignatius in the WaPo
I believe that we have already tipped.
We are sliding down the precipice.
It is pretty clear that all the amelioration that man can figure out will only slow the inevitable rise in world temperatures and the concomitant ecological consequences.
I think the die was cast a long time ago when population data was ignored.
I grew up at a time when there was considerable concern about world hunger, the environment, and all the issues we now are seeing live in living color today.
There was a huge movement to restrain population growth. The malthusian principles were spelled out. The band played on. Between the RC church and the interests of consumerism, we just kept on making more babies. And don't get me started on medical 'advances'.
Today, we have over populated, overused, and overspent our natural legacy.
Will this mean that the end of the world is nigh?
Well, yes. For polar bears. How about bees? How about us?
Not entirely.
I think that there will be catastrophic consequences in future years and that all of these will add up to the decimation of human population.
Nature will do for us what we could or would not do for ourselves.
And then we may get to start over.
The earth will cool, the waters will freeze, some natural order will be restored.
Since I am about to go off the planet, at least in this form, I am not personally threatened by this so it is easy to say.
I don't imagine that anyone will hear it.
It has come to the point where virtually anything I do threatens the world situation. This typing, the next phone call, lunch, dinner, the books I am reading. DVDs? Sure.
We are in the soup along with the polar bears.
I find that I have a great deal more compassion in my heart for the the bears and bees than I do for my own species.
How is that for a little cheer before the weekend?
Try this ray of hope. When things cool off there will be ways to help the polar bears and bees regenerate.
Us? I hope not.
Labels: environment, global warming, malthus, polar bears
