Earth’s resources are by no means infinite, as the planet heats up scientist warns that our planet is getting warmer each year. It is time for us to take stock of how we treat the precious resources at our disposal.
The wealthiest among us are the most liberal with the use and dispensation of earth’s resources, that is not to say that those of us on the consumer end of the spectrum are not equally as reckless in the way we use and consume precious resources.
Sure, the processes which produced those resources may still be at work replenishing them in some instances but do we want to run out of drinking water and wait on the replenishment process? Are we prepared to destroy our oxygen supply then wait for replenishment?
Even with the abundance of food, poverty, droughts, famine, wars and other forces are wreaking havoc, forcing millions into starvation, and the death of countless others.
The monied powers which drill for oil and natural gas, destroy mountains and other lands for coal have a vested interest in denying climate change. Sure we need those resources to maintain the modern lifestyle we have come to treasure and enjoy but in as much as the mega-corporations and governments have a responsibility to be judicious with our natural resources we all have that same responsibility to protect the environment.
That responsibility can come in the form of simply turning off the tap while brushing our teeth. turning the lights out in rooms we are not using.
On average about two gallons of fresh water flows from a tap each minute. According to (sustainability.nscu.edu), although 70 percent of planet Earth is covered with water, only 1 percent of it is available for human consumption? Our surging population is leaving our lakes, rivers, and aquifers struggling to meet this growing demand for fresh water. In fact, water demand is expected to climb 50 percent from 2007 to 2025.
With the Polar ice caps melting even more rapidly than scientists had initially anticipated, the warming of the earth is effectively assured, the less ice on the planet is the more dark ocean which attracts the suns rays and the process is self-fulfilling.
Melting ice caps means rising ocean levels. Rising ocean levels means cities and towns submerged under water. More violent storms. Population centers forced to move further inland. Disputes over living space. Contamination and stress on fresh drinking water sources. And conflicts associated with the foregone.
I doubt that there is a rational person who would disagree that these events are not happening today, not abstract predictions for future generations?
We know. Ethiopia in 2015, catastrophic famine, over 15 million people affected.
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming.3 argues https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
These images are not sexy, we tend to quickly turn the page and move on because these things are only happening to those people. But are they really? In our increasingly interconnected world, how long are the consequences of famine drought wars, and other maladies going to avoid our doorsteps?
The truth of the matter is that the policies of powerful governments and corporations have direct causation on some of these events playing out in real time.
Policies which upend the fragile stability in less powerful nations have a ripple effect on where we live. When we wage wars or destabilize other nations we cause the mass migration of people. When we destabilize the delicate and fragile peace within those countries borders, by choosing one side over another, we are contributing to the movement of people.
It is one of the most natural things for humans to become nomadic as they look for food water and a better life.
When powerful energy corporations are given carte blanch to upend our eco-system just so that they may have more zeroes on balance sheets, we are by default contributing to the mass migration of people to our shores.
These are the hard challenges which face the leaders of powerful nations.
Building walls as a means of safety and security is a tried and failed concept, history is replete with the examples. Subsequently, the order which came out of the Marshall plan after the second world war despite its imperfection has held to date.
There has been stupid uncalled for war since 1945, we all know that when moronic leaders are given power they are going to make moronic decisions.
Nevertheless, the period of relative peace between the ending of the first world war and the beginning of the second began is a mere 21 years.
Between the end of the second world war in 1945 and today is 73 years. Seventy-three years and still no worldwide violent conflagration.
The world order has held. It is up to present leadership to strengthen the existing order so that future generations may have a planet on which to live.
Those who went before us did not destroy the earth, we have a responsibility to ensure that others have the same opportunities on this another American Independence day.