On the subject of global warming, there is something no one has been talking about which I feel is very important to point out:
When sunlight hits the Earth, some of it is reflected back out into space by the atmosphere, and some of it is reflected by those parts of the earth which are covered with ice. As the ice which covers the North Sea retreats further and further, less light and heat is reflected out into space and more and more is absorbed by the dense waters of the ocean. An interesting property of matter is that the denser it is, the better it stores energy (heat). Because water is denser than land, it stores the heat from the Sun very efficiently--if you think it was hot in your hometown last summer, just imagine what it is going to be like after the arctic zones have thawed out! There is a very real possibility that things could get so hot that our oceans and atmosphere could start evaporating away into space. Scientists knew about this when I was a kid back in the nineteen seventies--people talked about it all the time, but no one thought it would happen so fast! "Don't worry" they said when I asked the grownups, "It will be hundreds or thousands of years from now."
Now, there is a very real possibility that we will see our poles thaw out within the next fifteen to twenty-five years. I have heard many predictions by the "experts," but in my opinion, it could already be too late to do anything about it. As the ice caps melt and the oceans rise; volcanoes become more active and earthquakes more frequent; floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes grow in number and size; usable land will become harder and harder to find. As food and water become more and more scarce, the wealthier classes will begin to fortify their homes, installing home-defense systems and purchasing powerful weapons. Overpopulated coastal urban areas will begin to see bands of roving bandits. Young men without jobs or hope, desperate to survive at whatever cost--if you think you have a problem with crime in your hometown now, just wait a few years! If things continue the way they have been, things are going to get a lot worse.
People talk almost casually about losing the ice around the poles. I actually heard some jerk in the bar the other day saying, "What do I care if the Polar Bears die?" I guess this is the kind of ignorance which has led to the situation we are in....people need to understand that all life on this planet is interconnected--when we lose a species off this planet, we lose part of what made us human. We will never know how many resources we have lost through our destruction of thousands of species of plants and animals, or how much of our own spirit we have destroyed...
Some say it won't do any good to speak of doom and gloom--that I am only contributing to our problems with such negative talk, but I will continue to spread the word! Please, share this article with as many people as you can and do what you can to make people wake up to this extremely urgent message!
