4.2.07

Fragile Planet





The more I learn about the history of science the more astounded I am at how “far” we have come. I have always been a bit of a left winger when it comes to science, particularly medicine, somehow being painfully aware of the ever present political influences that make modern science and medicine what it is.

Imagine only 500 years ago scientists and philosophers thought the presence of fossils at high altitudes was due to the great biblical floods. Leonardo Davinci was one of the first thinkers to begin to refute this theory. Our parents remember when there was no television and some of our grandparents when there was no electricity, and not all that long ago in the whole scheme of things. My son was asking me today about CD’s when I was a kid and was shocked to realize that we did not have them then, and I know we can all remember when a calculator cost well over $300. Does it not feel at though not only have we made some mind boggling technological advancements but that the very speed of those advancements is increasing exponentially every second?

I almost feel as though we are heading at a dizzying speed towards some great technological and environmental abyss…

Yet having said all of that in some shocking ways we still just don't seem to get it.
We just recently figured out, for certain, that smoking can kill us and I can guarantee you there will always be some who out there will continue to staunchly refute that point.

I have always sort of thought if it like a great big goldfish tank...sort of like peeing in the water...sooooo... Why would we do that?
I marvel that we continue to pollute our world the way we do with pretty much complete abandon. But I, like most everyone else, still do all the things I have always done...use chemical cleaners, drive a vehicle, burn fossil fuels to heat my home, use electricity....

I must confess I am more than a little panicked out about the new report recently released regarding climate change...

YES it is man made phenomenon....
YES IT IS OUR FAULT!!!! (aaAAHH!!)

This is our Planet we are talking about!!

I was a child who grew up completely freaked out about natural disasters. I remember waking up one morning and hearing my parents discussing a great landslide/sinkhole type disaster that happened late one night to several houses in the Quebec area...houses just sucked up, disappeared without a trace, just like that...

(Talk about fodder for nightmares; yep that's right little girl, land just opened up in the middle of the night and SUCKED them those houses right up...while everyone slept...) *gibber gibber*....


We also lived smack dab in the middle of the landy bit between 3 great lakes and endured some of THE freakiest storms you have EVER seen, green skies with funnel clouds, tornadoes that leave the landscape dotted with dead sheep and lifting the roofs off folks houses while they slept...

This new announcement regarding climate change has me with my head under the covers...(not only in denial like most of the world but in abject and utter fear) This committee on climate change predicts a 10 degree change in temperatures in the next 100 years in Canada...more severe weather and no end in sight even if we do clean up our act....
OMG...

What does this mean for us?

What do we do?

Who is in charge? *gulp*

How do we cope and how do we change? *panic*

OMG(Where is that blanket again...)
*quake*

5 comments:

Beth said...

Oh, it's frightening - for sure. Particulary when you have a Prime Minister like Harper who has only now tuned into the problem because it is politically expedient to do so.
We (people like you and I) can't do a whole heck of a lot but I became worried enough to do what I can.
Check out Saturday's Globe and Mail.
www.theglobeandmail.com
On the first page that comes up, you'll see (down and to the right) a yellow band with the words Climate Change - What To Do. It's an interactive graphic. Kind of neat - and informative.

Also check out www.climatecrisis.net That's the web site for An Inconvenient Truth. Click on Take Action.

And one you've checked out these links and figured out what you can do - FIND YOUR BLANKET. Those were scary things that happened in your childhood...

Unknown said...

One of the best things you can do: stop eating beef. Cows create a big chunk of the greenhouse gases.

And I'm with you on the climate change: I complain about it, but I don't change my own habits.

Kari Lee Townsend said...

I hear you. Scary, but I haven't really thought about what I can do to help. Too many people haven't.

Anonymous said...

Ok Nomad...now you're scaring me.

Love the big font, I can take my glasses off and still read it :)

Nomad said...

Beth, I will look Thanks.

Kari...yeah me too, thanks for dropping by.

DD..ok so no cows and ...*huh* since they are gassing poultry in the UK... them soy beans are looking pretty good...but *huh* don't they increase MY greenhouse emissions?

Trish...Sorry don't mean to spook you!!

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Paris, France
A Canadian expatriate living and exploring first France now Germany, then BACK to FRANCE (!!!) with her family; former fashion designer, turned unexpected UNLIKELY NOMAD, raising two children, writing, photographing, painting, playing piano (who knew!!) and blogging - and now... full time student at ART SCHOOL!! (I MUST be crazy!!)