Climate Change: The Gorilla in the Room

There are lots of fun weather and science topics that I want to blog about. Unfortunately, the whole time we’d be having fun I’d be looking over my shoulder at the giant gorilla in the room, sitting there with a stern look and shaking his finger at me. He’d be reminding me that there’s more to life and science than having fun and sometimes the tough topics need to also be addressed. So, just to get him off of my back I’m going to tackle and get behind us the dreaded topic of Global Climate Change. Then we’ll have fun.

Imagine that tomorrow some chemical was going to be added to all of the drinking water of the world. No one in the world would be excused from this experiment; not even people drinking from streams and lakes. No one could escape. Every drink we’d take would have the chemical in it. Even worse, no one would know if the chemical would make us healthier or sicker, or if it might even kill us. Even worse than that, no one would know who it might make healthier, sicker or kill. Besides us, every creature and plant on the earth would also be affected. 

Not a soul on this earth would be happy with this experiment and the collective howl of objection would be heard on the moon (I know, I know, sound needs a medium to travel through, but scientists don’t always have to be logical). Governments would be brought down, scientists suggesting the experiment would be tarred and feathered or worse and this experiment would never be allowed to happen. We’d have to be nuts to do it.

Unfortunately we are running this experiment right now on the whole world and everyone and everything in it. We are throwing chemicals into the atmosphere at an enormous and careless rate. No creature and plant on the earth can escape this experiment either. This is an experiment we started at the dawn of the industrial age and we still don’t have any real plan to escape it. We are all in it for better or worse and unlike marriage there is no divorce except the Grim Reaper available.

Go out on the street and listen carefully. Not even a squeak of protest can be heard. No governments are being brought down. No buckets of tar are heating up. No chickens are being plucked. Never in history have so many been so quiet about so much.

Next time I’ll explain the basics about Global Climate Change and we’ll go from there.