Global Warming and Climate Change: Learning Starts at Home

 There is vast effort to make strides to progress with the advent of technology to help with the fight against global warming and climate change. The topic of climate has, after all, been with us for years past and may well be for years to come, if we don't wake up and smell the coffee. Or, smell something else. Let me tell you a story. 

When I was young my parents and my family belonged to a country club, complete with a pool, tennis courts, a small golf course. What is so unusual about that you might ask? Around the perimeter of the course were cabins that guests had to own. Not the land, but the house. Beautiful, peaceful. In the middle of the country. In addition to paying the monthly country club fee, owners paid a land maintenance fee. The kids had activities from marshmallow roasting to hay rides to nature walks. Swimming, tennis, and gold competitions. 

On a small logging road, deep into the woods where we took nature walks, I happened to chance on a small garbage "dump." I found it by accident while tooling around on my mini-bike through the woods, and took some meandering roads and trails and yes, came to that "stink-pot" in the middle of the woods, smelly with not only fresh food but old toasters and rubber tires and empty cleaning bottles. God, I thought. Do people just toss their stuff in there randomly? I asked my parents and found that, yes, even our trash, even the stuff we buy and discard gets thrown away there. Hey, maybe I can throw some stuff I don't need in there. And I am embarrassed and shocked to say that I did throw unneeded "stuff" into that dump. One day, I did just that. Hey mom, just going to throw some stuff out in the dump. Although they may have, I don't remember anyone raising any objections my act. But after I thought it was terrible, thoughtless, that it must be bad for the environment, stinky, and after that one time I never did it again.

I don't know if the dump is still there or if the same thing goes on, but if so, I hope they've cleaned up their act.

The Future of Global Warming and Climate Change

 We have just had four years with an American president who did not care about climate change or global warming. He showed little interest in race relations, global coherence, equality for the common man. He took funding away from activities that bond Americans with the rest of the world, and focused more on elevating the economy, which is good, of course, but did he follow through with everything he promised? In the end we could all see this answer: not really. Now there is a new president in office with whom the political industry is incredibly familiar and spent the first day or two in his new position to "undo" some of the decisions made by his predecessor. So, then, we must ask about the future of global warming and climate change, an issue that will stare our sons and daughters and grandchildren directly in the face for decades. Is the economy, with all its infrastructure-building might, its glory to all those who can attain it, worth looking past the empty promises of restoring business and bringing back manufacturing, in order to bring forth an economy that over centuries will be short-lived anyway? If you think in terms of the youth of America, a country perhaps just entering puberty, then yes. But if you have the wherewithal to look into the future many years, no, centuries ahead like many European countries, then absolutely not. One shortcoming of America is that in its brazen youth tends to forget about the long and hard-lived lessons of its forefathers - countries like Greece, Italy, Turkey, Japan, China - and only thinks of the here and now. Democratic presidents like our current one know that this is true and therefore want to maintain good relations with the rest of the world. For it is only then, after growth and downfall, periods of sunshine and drought and war and famine and incredible lives lost lost during a pandemic, and bouncing back numerous times, it is only then that America can be looked up to, for real this time.