We are constantly hearing about the problems of global warming (now called climate change) along with strong admonitions to reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels to stop it. As RVers, OHVers, boaters, or even campers, we may even be pressured by environmentalists to totally abandon our favorite pastimes. The famous Sierra Club at one time had a written manifesto that called for the total elimination of ALL off road activity by the year 2000. Thankfully, that didn't happen. One thing it did accomplish was to alientate their own 4 wheel drive members into a completely separate club.
In recent years the common reference has been changed from "global warming"to "climate change". Don't let that fool you. One of the reasons was that there was a decided lack of verified scientific readings to support the idea of global warming. In some cases it was proven that reported data had been falsified in an attempt to support the unsubstantiated global warming agenda of certain groups. However, there is still a lot of purported evidence for real climate change. Climate change is not a new phenomena. Consider the known Ice Ages of the past.
There appears to be two camps when it comes to global warming/climate change: believers and non-believers. To be honest I have always been a bit of a skeptic, almost to the point of being grouped with the non-believers. For one thing, I think it is quite arrogant of us as humans to believe we can overwhelm nature! There is a certain amount of evidence that is repeatedly touted as proving we are at fault. However, actual historic evidence shows that periodic global warming is the result of cosmological changes in our solar system and earth's position in it, things we can absolutely do nothing about! Yes, it appears that global warming is a fact. And no, human beings have not been definetively proven to be the primary cause of it!
I recently discovered some very interesting independent research that clarifies a lot of things for me. It acknowledges global warming as a fact. But is also points out it is a natural phenomenon and shows graphs of regular repetitions of global warming for at least the last 400,000 years, based on geology, ice cores, and tree rings. Perhaps the most revealing fact I learned was that in every occurrence, including the current one, temperature increased BEFORE CO2 increased! It would appear from the historical (and current) evidence that global warming causes an increase in CO2 and not the other way around as frequently and repeatedly claimed in popular media, who wants us to believe WE are increasing CO2 and that is causing global warming. Since the temperature increase preceded the CO2 increase, that doesn't add up. In fact, it kind of puts a grand slam on current "greenhouse gas" theories! So, what does that mean for us? Maybe we need to gain a greater understanding of the whole "problem" before we implement knee-jerk "solutions" that will very likely be ineffective unless they are based on solid science. In almost every case, legislative solutions to technical problems have failed miserably.
Given that periodic global warming/climate change is historic fact, we might better spend our time and resources determining how we should respond to it, not flailing about with ineffective attempts to change it that significantly affects global economy and our personal choices! We can learn from geological records what to expect in sea level changes and from things like tree rings we can learn about weather patterns. While we may not be able to alter what global warming does to the oceans and the weather we CAN take appropriate actions to protect ourselves as a civilization and a species (and as individuals), against the affects. We should be looking into what happened in previous global warming periods and devising protocols to ensure our survival and continued safety and comfort. That might mean abandoning ocean front properties and focusing on promoting crops that can survive temperature changes.
Does any of this mean we should ignore "green"and "clean air" initiatives? No of course not! We still have a responsibility to be good stewards over and respect our beautiful planet. We still need clean air to breathe. Whether or not we are creating dangerous greenhouse gases we need to behave responsibly and protect all of our natural resources, especially trying to conserve those that are not renewable. It should give us a greater incentive to look beyond the commonly promoted theories and invest a little more time in digging deeper and exploring all the relevant facts. Then we should do what we can to promote appropriate social and legal responses that are relevant to the true situation in which we find ourselves instead of blindly following the self-serving mandates of people with personal biases and agendas they want to impose on us.
The use of fossil fuels seems to be at the heart of the global warming problem. Burning coal and petroleum products to power our civilization produces millions of tons of pollution every year. Nuclear power is one alternative to fossil fuels. The fear of how to handle nuclear waste has created a public resistance to nuclear power. However, I saw a recent report that showed handling of nuclear wastes was extremely safe and yields far less risk to human beings and the environment than the by products of of fossil fuels that we current largely ignore. Widespread use of nuclear power plants to generate cost effective electricity may well be what we need to make electric vehicles practical. Another recent study even showed eliminating the use of fossil fuels would actually increase climate change!
The use of renewable energy sources versus fossil fuels definitely makes sense. It took Mother Nature millions of years to produce the seemingly abundant coal and petroleum products so much of our society relies on. We can't replace them quickly or easily. The conditions that created them no longer exist. Wind, solar, hydroelectric and even tidal power sources should continue to be explored and developed. Consider this: virtually ALL the energy we have ultimately came from the sun! Coal and oil came from ancient vegetation that stored solar energy. Wind and even hydroelectric power are the result of sunshine. Even nuclear fuel for our power plants came from exploding stars, fortunately NOT the one we currently depend on for light and energy!
Am I going to get rid of my RV, boat, and OHVs or leave them idle because of global warming? No, absolutely not! Am I going to feel guilty about my campfire emitting CO2 into the atmosphere? Don't think so. Am I going to use appropriately sized campfires instead of raging bonfires when I go camping? Of course. Am I going to keep my RV and OHVs properly tuned and use the most environmentally friendly fuels I can? You bet! Am I going to support research, education, and legislation that properly addresses our appropriate response to global warming? Every chance I get!
Just do it!
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