I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues
Ah, the wisdom of Theodor Geisel…
I had the pleasure, last evening, of hearing Jon Powers speak at SUNY Geneseo and engaged in conversation the young woman sitting next to me, Yolanda Gonzalez. I asked her why she was there to hear Jon speak and she told me that she was part of the Geneseo Environmental Organization (GEO), and they were there to ask Jon, when elected, if he would help to sponsor the Safe Climate Act (HR 1590). She told me that this was the most rigorous legislation, to date, to curb global warming pollution.
11 students from this group will approach Tom Reynolds in Washington DC on November 5th at The Power Shift Conference to encourage him to sign on to this legislation. They will be accompanied by 3,000 students from all over the country.
From their letter to Tom Reynolds:
Since SUNY Geneseo was founded, we have benefited from the resources that the Finger Lakes provide. This relationship has become an integral part of our identity as an educational institution. When asked why they chose Geneseo above other schools, our proximity to natural environments is at the top of the list of our students’ replies. The easy access we have to Letchworth State Park (widely regarded as the Grand Canyon of the east) is a treasure only SUNY Geneseo can offer. The natural environments in our region are dependent on the health of our lakes and the surrounding ecology. As climate change alters the balance of these resources, SUNY Geneseo and surrounding communities will also suffer.
It was amazing to see these students, so engaged and knowledgable on their subject, becoming activists to basically save the planet, and I must say it is coming none too soon. Today, when the latest issue of Rolling Stone arrived, the first article that caught my eye was, “The Prophet of Climate Change”. Here’s the tagline:
One of the most eminent scientists of our time says that global warming is irreversible — and that more than 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century
a little freakey, huh? I tried to pull up the illustration with the article, that’s even freakier, but I couldn’t find it. That eminent scientist is James Lovelock. Lovelock believes that the planet is in no danger, that Gaia will ultimately regain her health, but it is the human race which will be in peril.
By the end of the century, according to Lovelock, global warming will cause temperate zones like North America and Europe to heat up by fourteen degrees Fahrenheit, nearly double the likeliest predictions of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations-sanctioned body that includes the world’s top scientists. “Our future,” Lovelock writes, “is like that of the passengers on a small pleasure boat sailing quietly above the Niagara Falls, not knowing that the engines are about to fail.” And switching to energy-efficient light bulbs won’t save us. To Lovelock, cutting greenhouse-gas pollution won’t make much difference at this point, and much of what passes for sustainable development is little more than a scam to profit off disaster.
(snip)
“You could quite seriously look at climate change as a response of the system intended to get rid of an irritating species: us humans,”
He admits he could be wrong, but after reading this whole piece, I doubt it.
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One thing is undeniable. After thousands of years, we still aren’t able to tame Mother Nature. All we’ve been able to do is protect ourselves from her forces. Still, I don’t think its a good idea for to continue ticking her off so much.
Not to mention it was over 80 degrees just a couple days ago. I used to think that Fall was basically winter in Rochester. Now its looking more like Summer. Why can’t it just be Fall?
Great post . We need to vote for Mother Nature because Mother Nature can’t vote.
Not to rain on anyone’s parade…”6 billion people will perish by the end of the century”? And so? There’s over 6 billion people alive now, if everyone lived to be 90, over 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century.
Geez, even Rush could figure that one out…
mmmmm, not so much. The last quantified world population that I could find was in 1999, at that time there were approximately 6 billion. By 2050, the projections are for 9 billion. Here’s the link:
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9828&page=2
Unfortunately, you seem to be thinking a little bit like Rush.