We’re all going to die!

October 20, 2007 by enchantingsunshine.

I believe that if there is any secret in life, it’s to live life with balance. So while I’d like to only present you with features like “That’s Love,” for your own good, I have a responsibility to also inform you of troubling and depressing news. How else will you appreciate the lovely beauty the world has to offer unless you’re fully informed of all the death, conflict, and disease?

The truth is I’m just a little cranky about our unseasonably warm October. Here it is the 19th, and last night I woke up at 3 am in a sweat. I had to actually turn down the air conditioning another three degrees, just to get comfortable. I never thought I would say this, but, is it ever going to get cool? In the South, we’re suffering from a drought that is becoming severe. Personally, as a long-time conservationist, I have no problem with conserving water and I think it’s about damned time that Americans woke up to their excessive habits and lived more realistically, in touch, and respectfully of the planet and the rest of its inhabitants. Believe it or not, we’re not the only people, or species who have merit.

What’s concerning is hearing news like this: that Atlanta has 90 days of water left. Had the news come from Florida, I wouldn’t be surprised, but Atlanta isn’t typically a place I think of as having water shortages.

Recently, I was in the company of someone who scoffed angrily at Al Gore winning the nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against global warming. This person really hates Al Gore and the whole environmental movement. I’m not a scientist, but it seems pretty clear that the majority of scientists agree that global warming is a fact. Perhaps it is a result of natural processes; however, is it really so difficult, so impossible to believe that all our carbon emissions could be contributing to the problem?

I truly do not understand the opposition to protecting our natural resources. And why in particular the politics around this science? I mean, do we believe scientists when they describe the fertilization process? Do we trust the science of egg meeting sperm? Do we trust the principles of chemistry that have allowed the pharmaceutical companies to get rich? Do we believe that scientists are lying when they say they know the properties of an atom or the double helix? How is it that only some science is credible and the rest is to be rejected?

It’s true that climatology is an imperfect science, as is all of our science. We live in such a wonderful time where we are discovering new things about ourselves and the world around us every day. What we believe and know continues to evolve and in my opinion, that’s what makes science credible and worthy of respect. It shows that instead of holding onto dogma for political reasons, we are willing to dispel myths, to discard false or incomplete information and move forward with new findings. We are constantly perfecting what we know and how we learn it. We’re not plugging our ears and covering our eyes, we’re always trying to improve on what we know.

So why is this topic so political? Why do people get so defensive about global warming? Is it really so threatening to one’s quality of life to even consider carpooling or living in a slightly smaller McMansion? Are so many people lacking that part of science education that talked about the ecosystem and how we’re interdependent? I can still see the spiral arrow diagram from 9th grade biology. Isn’t it obvious that destruction of the environment will result in our own demise?

Let’s say theoretically we were forced to use our cars less, or consume less water. Would that really be so much of a hardship? This is what I desperately want to know. What if we change our lifestyle and the scientists are wrong? What then? What great price has been paid and what has been lost? What if, on the other hand, when we carpooled with a colleague we made a deep friendship? What if our lives became less stressful as we scaled back on the number of activities we tried to cram into 24 hours? What if we lived in a slightly smaller home that used less energy, that we could afford better, that gave the whole family a chance to learn to cohabit the same space peacefully instead of spreading out into separate rooms never seeing each other or sharing experiences. What is so awful with this scenario that is so distasteful to people? Are we bothered by the science or what we perceive to be lack of science or the thought that someone would dare to say that we should reconsider how we live?

So what if we believed the scientists and in twenty years time, they turned out to be wrong? And…? Don’t we have to live the best we can with the information we know? Isn’t that what we do every day anyway? Nothing in life is 100% certain except death. Why is changing our lifestyle to combat global warming so different? Why do we demand perfect climate models and perfect science, before we act, when we manage to function with uncertainty in other areas of our life? We don’t know how other decisions we make are going to influence the outcome of our lives, but we manage. We don’t know if taking a new job or moving to another city is going to turn out okay, but still we make the decision to move forward based on our best guess about what the facts suggest. Often things don’t turn out as planned, and we adjust. Scientists aren’t God, if indeed there is a God. Why not operate on the premise that theories are based on observable, measurable, and repeatable facts and act on the best information we have at this time? As we gather more information, we can adjust accordingly. Why is that so scary and offensive?

A certain preacher of my acquaintance has a good theory about this. In the U.S. we see everything in terms of “rights.” We have the Bill of Rights, that clearly states, that we have certain “inalienable rights.” Every time someone wants to pass a law, we get worked up about it taking away our rights. How dare anyone tell us how to live or what to do. We think we have a right to use our land however we wish and consume resources in whatever quantity we choose. Future generations be damned! If we want to ride a motorcycle without a helmet and smash our brains on the side of the road, by God, we should be able to do this! (In my opinion that’s just fine as long as taxpayer money doesn’t have to pay for the aftermath.) I would also like to add that we have a right to live in denial. We have a right to get that mortgage we can’t afford, and a right to live in that big house, and a right to be bailed out by the government when we default. And so on, and so on, and so on…

At any rate, I didn’t intend this to be a diatribe about the environment, I just can’t stop wondering why the issue is so inflammatory. It’s another one of those things in life that makes no sense to me. At any rate, I’m making sure to keep my friends in the North so that I have someone to ship me water when we run out.

Moving on though, there’s more news that is important for you to know. If it’s not the global warming that gets us, or the water shortage as our dehydrated, dead bodies lie shriveled up over the toilet bowl, as we attempt to suck the last remaining drops of water from it, it’s going to be the MRSA. My brother and sister-in-law suffered from this two years ago and said it was horrible. Months of wiping down every surface they came in contact with. It appears that the bacteria is becoming more of a threat, killing 19,000 people per year. About nine years ago, a close friend of mine lost his mother to a staph infection - most likely the same strain. A teeth-whitening retainer was implicated as the culprit, even though she cleaned it diligently and as directed. One day she called her daughter and said, “I don’t feel good.” Her daughter immediately took her to the emergency room and within 24 hours she had gangrene in all of her appendages, as the bacteria consumed its way through her body. Within a week, she was dead. Don’t mess with bacteria.

So if it’s not the bacteria that gets you, it’s going to be the crazies. Can you believe some moron threw paint into the Trevi Fountain. You see what I mean? We’re doomed.

Just to make sure you’re convinced, here’s the final news story for today. Apparently Brits are not popular after you get to know them. The article didn’t say if the Brits who participated in the forum said things like, “your jokes are stupid” which would entirely explain how they could alienate the entire continent of Europe. Regardless, one has to mistrust the validity of the survey when you consider that the British have given us this brilliance:

Holy Hand Grenade
Who Killed Who
Message

Whoever could say such a thing could only be French.

So I hope if nothing else, if you’re not sucking on your car tailpipe at this very moment, this post has helped you feel appreciative of all that you have, water, lots of clean water, a house free of life-threatening bacteria and a residence far from the English or the French, or the Italians, depending on your perspective.

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