Tuesday, August 28th, 2007, 2:10 pm
Time for Change… Environmental Disasters Just Years Ahead
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Picture from the BBC (2004).
Will we be seeing more natural disasters in years to come? It sure looks like it, but when will people decide to take action and apply some change?
..”Sea ice in the Arctic helps keep those regions cool by reflecting sunlight that might be absorbed by darker land or ocean surfaces. Exposed to direct sun, for example, instead of reflecting 80 percent of the sunlight, as ice does, the ocean absorbs 90 percent of sunlight. That causes the ocean to heat up and raises Arctic temperatures further.”
August 28th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
As long as there are a majority of Americans like the people in Waco, Texas – who went nuclear on Bill Nye for “blasphemy” by explaining that the Moon did not produce light it reflected sunlight – a direct contradiction of Genesis – we will get NOWHERE.
Unfortunately, the dumbing down of the US is fairly well accomplished. I put the majority of the responsibility in the hands of Ronald Reagan and his ilk (Howard Jarvis in California) who actively attacked government – but spent like profligate sons.
Unless and until we bring back the emphases on science and rationality that we had during the years of “the space race” we will never, ever take a step towards solving these issues.
The majority of the adults in the US are “Christian” and a substantial subset are completely governed by magical thinking (see, Waco, infra.).
There are two forms of government in the US – rule by fear and rule by rational thought. We are deep into the fear culture and only grass roots activism on a massive scale will change this country from the path it has followed since 1980.
We denigrate education. Simple facts elude the population as a whole. Why didn’t the general population respond to Reagan’s most frightening words speech “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” with questions such as: Who, exactly built and maintains our water supply? What about the Polio Vaccine? What about the state universities? How about the highways, airways, radio, television licensing of physicians…….. government is all bad? Only when the fearmongering predators among us use it to make a buck at the expense of the planet.
The US just killed 1,000,000.00 Iraqi civilians — how many Americans can locate Iraq on a map! We are dealing with a really nasty and unsafe state of affairs that serves only a miniscule few. Keeping the masses frightened and ignorant is beneficial to those in power.
August 31st, 2007 at 8:43 pm
gro,
I agree with you 100%. Sorry it took me a while to check (and approve) your comment.
The government’s take on authority is worrisome to say the least. It’s the same in many countries, not just the US.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Personally, I think that we ignore connections between natural disasters and environmental degredation at our peril. (And i’m talking about all kinds of problems here, not just global climate change). Our ecological mis-steps may not necessarily cause a natural disaster, but they can certainly make it worse. The current administration has been promoting “salvage” logging as a way to protect homes from forest fires, but uncontrolled clearcutting in mountainous areas can actually increase the danger of destructive landslides and flooding. All to often, we environmentalists are portrayed as being more concerned with the wellbeing of birds and fish than with that of human beings. We need to point out that things that are harmful to birds, fish, and redwood trees are often not very healthy for us, either. And, when we are told that poor countries can’t afford the “luxury” of environmental protection, we need to respond that they can’t afford not to protect their environment.