Top 10 excuses for not going green: The world is just fine
The claim: Environmentalists are just crying wolf. The Earth isn't in nearly as bad shape as people claim it is. The media are using fear-mongering tactics to get the public hot and bothered. You might hear them say: "It's you who's crazy, not me." "Stop freaking out- the world is just fine." "I think you're overreacting." "People only believe Al Gore because they need something to cling to in the face of our abhorrent administration."
Some common arguments within this thought process:
- Climate change is cyclical. The Ice Age occurred, and now a great warming is occurring. It's natural, and is mostly influenced by the sun.
- Al Gore/Bono/Other High-Profile Environmental Type is a hypocrite because he/she owns lots of big houses and flies in a private jet. Therefore, I should not believe anything he/she says.
- Some scientists disagree with the idea that climate change is due to pollution.
Is there any legitimacy to this claim?
- There is an increasingly strong body of evidence to suggest that we have had - and continue to have - a negative impact on the earth. As for global warming being affected by the sun, there hasn't been a positive, consistent solar trend since the 1960s that could be used to explain recent temperature extremes. And the difference between the solar minimum and the solar maximum over the past 11 years is ten times smaller than the effect of greenhouses gases during that period, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Also, the increase in intensity of tropical storms over the past 30 years has been closely correlated with the increase in tropical sea surface temperature over the same period of time, suggesting that human-induced global warming has played a strong role in the heavier storms.
- Using people like Al Gore as scapegoats is a lazy way to rationalize and explain away climate change. What do a specific person's actions have to do with a well-recognized, well-regarded idea that our planet is suffering at the hands of its inhabitants? If Al Gore hadn't brought these issues to light, someone else eventually would have. But celebrities, by nature, are high-profile and constantly demanded to be in the spotlight: hence, the need to occasionally hop aboard a plane. Let's stop pointing fingers and blaming celebs for their actions, and instead turn our gazes inward. Let's not distract ourselves from the real issue at hand.
- Some scientists also believe in UFOs. And some doctors believe in miracles. Just because a few people believe something, doesn't mean it's accurate. Let's face it: 11 of the past 12 years have been among the hottest on record. According to MIT researchers, there has been a 100% increase in hurricane and tornado intensity since the 1970s. A chunk of Arctic sea ice the size of Texas has disappeared over the past 30 years, and our sea level has risen (up to 20 centimeters in some places) in the past 100 years, displacing animals and residents of seaside towns.
Take the first step: First, open your mind. Next, read some books. Start with Thomas Kostigen's The Green Book; Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth; and finally, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (for those skeptics who say that all of our current scientific knowledge and proof of climate change is based on recent computer predictions that are inconclusive).
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_thumbnail.jpg "Green superheroes")
