Friday, September 29, 2006

Climate change: We've talked about it, wrote about it - and yet, for us (the US), nothing has been done about it.
Well, that's not entirely true. We did a lot during the Clinton years. (And screw those people who keep talking about that "Clinton-Lewinsky" garbage. He was a better leader, which is more than the current prez can say.) So far, with the Bush administration, we've successfully managed to roll back environmental measures such that companies can dump their waste into our air freely and with no hassle from the government, let alone the EPA - our car companies, for one, have been producing models that waste more gas than the Model T (an old car that didn't get mileage at all compared to ours today. Still, it was an achievement at the time).
The worst part of this is that most people don't believe that this is an issue, let along a political one - or are completely unaware of it. Which is insane, considering that already the ice across the planet - glaciers, snow, the polar caps - is melting, seas are rising worldwide, and a considerable increase recently in the number of hurricanes during hurricane season (there were so many in 2005 that scientists ran out of names for them). That is, until one considers that Bush has been trying as hard as possible to create the illusion that there is no issue.
It is obvious that W. cares little or nothing of humanity, as he has completely dismissed the issue of Katrina - thousands of people dead, and many tens of thousands more homeless. And of course he is ignoring the fact that a disaster looms in the not-too-far future, the flooding of the coastal plains of America. Florida, underwater. Louisiana would be completely irreclaimable. As for the Central US, the Mississippi would overflow, wiping out croplands. The rest of the Heartland, meanwhile, would dry up. Does that sound like an issue to you? It does to me. We must realize that this is an issue, a serious one, one which we will have to tackle in the near future if we are to avoid serious consequences down the road, and for that matter, why shouldn't we start thinking of a solution now? But now comes the big question: How would we go about doing that?
For the near future, the best option we could take would be to start buying into fuel-efficient technology. So far, our country has ranked as one of the most wasteful on the planet, and thusly as the largest polluter. Perhaps if we decided to invest in more hybrids, the skies of LA might turn blue again. Well, perhaps not.
We also need to invest into clean energy - and I mean invest in it, not just slap together a few concept cars and then just drop the whole thing. Serious dollars, serious effort, to help pay for research and development of new power sources and power plants to fuel our unending hunger for energy. Solar power, wind turbines, even nuclear fusion. The results won't come immediately, but with a little cash and perseverance, we might just save our own necks.

Damn, that was a long rant. :P

No comments: