I heard the local Meteorologist, Mike Nelson, give his weather report during the Marshal Fire here in Colorado, he had the best line ever: “It’s not politics folks, it’s thermodynamics. Climate change is real.” We cannot be in denial of this.
As I was traveling in Florida and driving along the freeway looking into the dense forest that bordered the highway, I reflected upon the number of trees and vegetation that were removed to put in the highway. From just a simple balance perspective, we removed land that took in carbon dioxide and produced oxygen and left behind a hard surface that produces only carbon dioxide. It only takes a little bit more of this type of exchange, and the balance is tipped.
The balance is not about saving the earth. It’s about having a planet that can serve humankind in its current form. It is too easy just to say that the earth has too many people or it won’t affect me, so I don’t care. The current situation is such that it is affecting you.
Homeowner’s insurance in Colorado is going to go up to pay for the 1,000 homes lost in the Marshall fire. The folks in Kentucky and Illinois will have their homeowner’s insurance go up due to the 200 mile path of the recent EF-4 rated tornado. The federal dollars deployed to assist in recovering areas that have been affected by such destruction will cost you either in taxes or the burden of US debt. Your quality of life will suffer due to having to pay for these costs.