On Earth

Our universe is 78 billion light years across. This means that if you could travel at the speed of light (67,100,000,000 Mph), a physical impossibility as stated by Albert Einstein that it is impossible for anything to go as fast or faster than light, it would take you 78 billion years to cross the universe. This is more than 5 ½ times the age of the universe! The closest known planet outside our solar system is 10.5 light years away. This means that if they launched one of our current space shuttles towards this planet at the current fastest speed we can go (3094 Mph), it would take over 2.27 million years to reach this planet! Needless to say, there certainly is not a chance that we will be visiting this planet in our lifetime. Not like we would find a hospitable world even after we got there. The planet is a gas giant much like our own Jupiter only 1.5 times larger. This means that there is no way we could live or even land on this planet. This doesn’t mean that there is not a planet like our own out there somewhere. As a matter of fact, it would be ludicrous to think that our planet is unique throughout the solar system. The Hubble telescope was tasked to take a long exposure of a seemingly empty sky once. The super sensitive telescope camera was exposed for 11 days. When scientists studied the resulting picture they were amazed at what they saw. A picture of nothing contained 10 thousand galaxies over 13 billion light years away. This is the deepest photograph mankind has of the cosmos. A deep look at a microscopic patch of nothing resulted in the discovery of ten thousand galaxies, each containing millions of stars, all having the chance of containing planets, and some of those hospitable and habitable. Yes, there are most likely millions of planets in our universe that have the ability to sustain complex life. However, Earth is the only planet Humans can currently occupy. All others, regardless of how innumerable they may be, are simply out of the question.
So, like it or not we are stuck with Earth until we either find a way to circumnavigate Einstein’s pesky rule or develop a way to grow Earth-like habitats on barren planets like Mars. Both of which I doubt we will see within the next couple centuries. Now, knowing this, why are we being so stubborn and ignorant in our reluctance to stop a disastrous climate crisis? Maybe we don’t understand the full danger and proximity of this crisis. Maybe some of us still don’t believe it exists.
The climate crisis is real. It is not some liberal extremist tree-hugger concoction. It is not a myth perpetuated by a few scientist looking for more funding. It is not a natural planetary function. It is not a far off problem that can be averted by a prolonged approach. It is not a joke. If you don’t believe me, there is numerous literature, articles, and documentaries that you can read or watch to find the a plethora of immutable scientific data you require as proof. Just Goggle global warming or climate change. The simple gist of it is we are expelling Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. The more CO2 in our atmosphere means the more heat that gets trapped in our lower atmosphere warming the Earth. This is where it begins to cause a multitude of problems. Yes, we all know or hear about the melting of glaciers and ice shelves in the arctic regions and that this will cause ocean temperatures to rise. No, our planet will not look like the movie Waterworld. However, the realistic result is still very disturbing. Scientist predict a 20 foot rise in global sea levels. How many costal regions you know that have an average topography greater than a two story building? Most of Florida will be submerged. Manhattan? Bye. Louisiana? Bye. Numerous other areas will be affected by this. And remember that this will displace millions of people. They will become climate crisis refugees. This, unfortunately will not be the worst result. A larger surface area of water on the planet will now allow the oceans to absorb more heat from the sun. Acidic levels will rise in the worlds oceans killing precious coral reefs and marine life (our food supply). The damage done to the oceans will disrupt the natural tides and currents needed to cycle water and cooling throughout our planet. The Earth will grow even warmer as a result of this. At this, point there is nothing we can do to stop it. The natural ecosystems designed to recycle, feed and sustain our planet with checks and balances will begin to collapse and destroy itself. The continued warming will unfreeze the permafrost in the ground in parts of the world close the the arctic circles. This will in turn release even more CO2 into the atmosphere. With the Biosphere rapidly destroy over the course of a half a century or less, most plant life will not be able to adapt. If plant life goes, so does animal life. The human race will starve to death. That is for those of us who aren’t killed by frequent violent storms or severe heat waves. The world will slip into chaos. Unfortunately, the result I fear most is man itself. We will plunge back into a new dark age. Survival of the fittest. Seems unrealistic. Not possible. Not in my lifetime. Think again.
According to a recent article, scientist estimate that the “point of no return” may be as little as 11 years away. Previous estimates put it around 30 years away if we do not get CO2 levels 40% below 1992 readings. Now, because of the exponential increase in CO2 output in the past five years, that time line has been cut to a third. Let me take a second to make sure that everyone reading this fully understands what this implies. This is most important principle of this entire article. The “point of no return” is a definitive point were we loose control. After we cross this point there is little we can do with our current and foreseeable technology that can bring us back from an inevitable climate crisis. The Earth will self perpetuate our demise, our very possible extinction. This point is as little as 11 years away. This is not something we can sit back and pass down to our grandchildren. It is a threat to us. We will see it happen. Even if it is a conservative 30 years away, unless you are either in very poor health or over 60, we will see it happen. It is up to us, now, today to do something about it.
Now, if you’re like me and have been looking into what you can do, you most likely are say, “I would love to lower my individual carbon emissions, but “going green” is at times expensive. I agree. I would love to reinsulated my home, buy a hybrid, add solar panels to my roof, and tweak my life so I could be as green as possible tomorrow. I can’t. I just do not have the available finances. However, radically changing your life is not the only way you can help. The most vital part of the solution is awareness. What I am doing right now. Talk to your friends. write your congressman or woman. write your senator. write the president. Write an opinion piece. Use that most wonderful of tools the internet. Get educated on the current situation. I know that at times it is hard to pull yourself away from such tantalizing news as the latest gossip on who Paris Hilton is screwing or which celebrity broke a law this week or how anorexic the Olson twins have gotten and which one has the drug addiction now and is she getting help. I know all this highly mentally challenging material is very hard to shy away from. Look, your planet needs you. The human race needs you. Wake up and realize that things are not “okay”. There is a current struggle for our civilization taking place and here’s a big news flash: WE ARE LOOSING! But, its not too late yet. You can make a difference.
If you think for one second your leaders and celebrities are making a difference and they will take care of it, than you need to get your head out of your ass. Here’s an up date on what President Bush is doing to save the environment. Bush, in his infinite self-less service to mankind, has enacted a multitude of recent “midnight regulations”. Under one of these new regulations, federal agencies no longer are required to have scientists assess the impact on endangered species prior to giving to go-ahead for logging, mining, drilling, highway building or other development. The rule also PROHIBITS federal agencies from taking into account climate change and carbon emissions prior to beginning any project. PROHIBITS! In a rule that becomes effective just three days before Obama takes office, the administration has opened up nearly 2 million acres of mountainous lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming for the mining of oil shale, an energy-intensive process that also drains precious water resources. In October, two weeks after consulting with industry lobbyists, the White House exempted more than 100 major polluters from monitoring their emissions of lead, a deadly neurotoxin. Seemingly hell bent on a more toxic future, the administration will also allow industry to treat 3 billion pounds of hazardous waste as "recycling" each year, and to burn another 200 million pounds of hazardous waste reclassified as "fuel," increasing cancer-causing air pollution. The rule change is a reward to unrepentant polluters: Nearly 90 percent of the factories that will be permitted to burn toxic waste have already been cited for violating existing environmental protections. There were numerous more. I implore you to read up on what this narcissistic megalomaniac continues to do in the last days of his presidency. For those of you who think that Obama will simply sweep in and eliminate these regulations, it’s not that easy. Due to the checks and balances of our government a new president cannot simply overrule or void regulation set in place by a previous president. He must follow the whole legal and legislative process to repeal the damage done. As it is, our founding fathers assumed the future presidents would not be psychotic. I have no doubt that Obama will work diligently to repeal these monstrosities, but it will take time and let us not forget he is already inheriting a nation in a crisis state. Yes, Obama will help to resolve the climate crisis exponentially better than either his predecessor or his previous opponent. However, the clock is still ticking and it is a deadline we can’t miss. As for Hollywood, with the exception of the few celebrities who consistently form the bedrock of the celebrity green movement, they are silent. Now, I leave this thought with you. These people, much like our government, work for us. We pay their salaries. I feel that it is not far our of the question for us to ask more from them. Brad and Angelina are content with spending their fortune on genetically engineering their army of perfect offspring. Paris Hilton is the world’s richest whore. My favorite are these hip-hop uber-stars that think class is spending millions of dollars on some tacky diamond and platinum beer cozy or something like that. Then, they go and spend money making songs about spending money and people actually give them money for it. I just don’t get it. Write you favorite celeb. Tell them how you feel about the climate crisis and politely suggest to them the get active and use their fame for good. Also, you can boycott those who refuse to adapt to the climate crisis needs. Shame on any celebrity who is still ridding around in a hummer or SUV. Building enormous mansions that require their own nuclear power supply. You and I may not be able to afford to go green like we would want, but they can. Also, write to the ones who you do hear about out there supporting green technology. Tell them thanks. But, don’t leave it up to our political leaders and Hollywood alone to make a change. Let them hear your voice. Make them realize that you are there and you are watching and they ARE accountable for their actions.
Ultimately, it is solely up to us, the little people. We have to make changes and have our voices heard before the ones who can make they changes care. I worry sometimes that maybe humanity doesn’t care enough. That maybe we are too lazy and complacent to actively effect change. We sit in our cozy little lives comfortable and reluctant. The thought of a global catastrophe is remote, distant, a dream recalling some sci-fi flick you watched a long time ago. We may be aware, but we can start tomorrow. Yeah, sure, its urgent… but not thaaat urgent. I mean its not like tomorrow we will wake up and the Earth will be gone. There’s time. I remember, in school, I would get a major assignment that was worth some significant portion of my final grade. Along with the large assignment, we would get a comfortable timeframe to accomplish it. A month, two weeks, whatever. Well, it never failed, I would be up till the wee hours of the morning the night before rushing to complete it just well enough for a passing grade. Because tomorrow was always a better day than today to get to work. But, this isn’t school and a barely passing grade isn’t good enough. We are not going to get grounded by our parents or have to repeat a class if we don’t make it. We will die. The human race will die. Our children will die. The earth will die. Today is an excellent day to begin on this project. The only better time would have been yesterday. Because tomorrow is coming quick.