Global Warming ~ my son’s perspective
November 26, 2007
Last night the power went out, throwing our house into darkness. My six year old asked me why the lights and his Nintendo went off. I explained that the electricity went out. He then asked why electricity was so bad, especially if it allows us to see at night and play video games. I didn’t understand, but he went on to explain how electricity causes global warming and we must stop using electricity. He began to question the premise that he learned at school and suggested that he didn’t think electricity was so bad after all.
I laughed, but realized that most people are thinking and acting on global temperature data on the same level as my six year old. Anyone who dares to question any aspect of global warming is written off as a fool immediately. No one wants to look like a fool so we all play along. But at what cost? Our planet is on course to spend trillons of dollars over the next decades not on improving life for humans, but in an attempt to cool the planet. I like the studies that suggest that if human life was eradicated from the face of the earth it would result in a 1% decrease in global temperatures over the next decade.
According to recently published satellite figures, global temperatures have fallen over the last decade. By this year we reached lows not seen since 1983. Turns out the 1930s had four of the ten warmest years in the last 100 years, the warmest was in 1934. I will admit that I don’t understand the global warming/cooling issue, but what bothers me the most is that everyone else seems so certain about a topic that is so complex. Whenever everyone has something figured out, I start to think that they might have it wrong. Hopefully my son won’t be ridiculed for thinking critically about the issue ~ I know I will be…
