Global warming

The fight over global warming continues. You see more and more news reports about its impact on the planet. There was a report on World News about Kiribati which is a island nation in the Pacific. It is literally disappearing.

Right now, the children of Kiribati, who have a literacy rate of 90 percent, spend their free time playing along the shore. But their playground could be eliminated if expected global warming trends progress, and the surrounding ocean water becomes warmer, pushing the seas higher as waves strengthen.

The president of the country believes that in 50 years most of his country will be underwater.

There are still some people who say it is not happening. When Al Gore testified on Capitol Hill there were the usual Republicans that opposed what he was saying most notably Senator Inhofe. But not all the Republicans think that way:

Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) admitted he paid to see “An Inconvenient Truth.” Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), implicitly rebuking flat-Earth colleagues, said: “It’s possible to be a conservative without appearing to be an idiot.” Barton flashed a grin of annoyance.

I understand the aspect of wondering if the scientific evidence points to this being a normal event or an event that man is helping to accelerate. What I don’t understand is the reluctance to take any action on this at all.

This is about reducing CO2 admissions. In layman terms reducing the amount of pollution that is produced. And the reason we would not want to do this is what. There hasto be a first step. There has to be some direction given to people on what theycan do to help. Because people are concerned about this issue. They just need someguidance on what they can do to help solve the problem. Time magazine this week has a cover on global warming. They have a list of some 50 things that can be done to help reducing the consumption of CO2. One is changing you light bulbs which I’m doing. Another one is buying an insulated blanket to put over your water heater which is something I will be looking into.

The thing is there is a great deal that people can do. Now taking individually many of these things don’t add up to a whole lot. But taken together they can make a huge difference. What’s needed now is some leadership from the political side. Unfortunately that won’t be happening until the Bush Administration is no longer around.

After all no less than John McCain said that global warming is a fact and the case is closed. What remains open is what steps will be taken to address the problem. Steps that we all need to take sooner rather than later.