Saturday, February 9, 2008

By Fire or By Ice?

Last night on the local news that I watch, there was a report that "scientists in Canada and Russia are warning of an impending ice age".

This is certainly an interesting counter point to all the warnings about global warming. Kinda reminds me of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow". (For those of you unfamiliar with this piece of cinematic brilliance, the plot was essentially: 1. Global warming causes ice sheets to melt, 2. The extra fresh water shuts down the Gulf Stream, 3. The Gulf Stream shut down causes an ice age. So extra heat = extra ice - the first law of thermodynamics not withstanding.)

Anyways, it just brings back to me the point I tried to make a few days ago... we are experimenting with our atmosphere, and do not, indeed, can not, know what the consequences will be. This is dangerous. It is foolhardy. It is not something a responsible adult would foist upon their children and grand children. We, conservatives and liberals alike, must ensure that we do everything reasonable to protect (conserve) the environment.

As the great leader of the Native American Suquamish Tribe, Chief Seattle is quoted to have said "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." I hope we can give this earth back to children, better than we received it from our parents. Of course, back when I was a kid the local river caught on fire (yeah the river was on fire - see here).

I'm kinda hoping we can avoid both the fire and the ice.

1 comment:

K T Cat said...

How about if we get both at the same time and have a nice sauna?