Our Earth

There are people who oppose renewable energy sources, including the dontard.  The reason for this is pretty unclear, except for those who have a vested interest in carbon based energy sources like oil, gas, and coal.

Creating energy using solar, wind, tides, water flow or any other renewable source eliminates pollution and provides essentially the same energy as the other sources.  In some cases affordability cold be a factor but if you consider our recent past, the use of windmills and water mills were quite common.

We went through a period that we are still in where cheap carbon based energy became inexpensive and transportable.  We were able to have a tremendous expansion of industry, transportation and provided the ability to heat and cool our homes.

The side effect of this was that we saw an increase in pollution and a release of carbon into the atmosphere that creates a greenhouse effect.  Much of the pollution, especially some of the most visible has been controlled or eliminated.

We still rely to a great extent on carbon based energy, but we have taken many steps to be more efficient and we have seen some move towards use of renewable energy.

The point is that we have released so much carbon into the air that we are at a point where we need to change our ways to avoid fairly catastrophic results.  In fact we may be already be at a point where we already face dire consequences.

Each of us needs to continue reducing our use of carbon and require our politicians to accept the reality of climate change.

Legacy?

Most people want to see their children, grandchildren and further descendants thrive.

It is probably our strongest instinctual feeling, since not caring for your offspring means they are unlikely to survive in nature.

We tend to think of their success in material and family terms but what good does any of that do if they inhabit a world more and more uninhabitable?

Its odd as people look at the world they live in and generally all they see are man-made cities, man-designed farms, man-designed livestock and pets and still deny that mankind is having an impact on this world.

Consider the air pollution and smog that we have in certain areas, the water contamination, the extinct species that can be associated directly with our activities.  Is it really hard to imagine that we are impacting the atmosphere as well, introducing or reintroducing carbon that wouldn't be there if not for us?

Climate change deniers are simply ignoring reality.

Yes the climate is also impacted by natural causes but those exist with or without us.

What we add is in addition to those causes and we have interrupted the natural order of events.

We are creating and have already created a new normal where the world is warmer and therefore has more energy.

Events that used to happen every 500 years are happening almost annually.

We have calculated the impact and our time is starting to run out, yet we do very little.

There is a saying that forewarned is forearmed.

In our case we are forewarned but foolishly doing almost nothing.

Unfortunately, the ones who will really suffer are future generations, our descendants.

What kind of legacy is that?