Climate change debaters are fools

There’s a heated debate on whether climate change or global warming is happening and if it is, whether it’s caused by human action. I’m not here to debate either side. I’m here to say that it doesn’t matter.

Scientists supporting climate change have said that it’s so far long that we cannot significantly alter the effects. Once the ice caps start melting, there’s very little we can do. It’s highly arrogant that changing your light bulbs or driving a Prius is going to reverse decades of pollution across the planet.

There are plenty of other reasons to curb emissions however. If you’ve ever been to a large city with few regulations, you’ll know how disgusting smog really is. Having traveled to parts of the third world, my lungs have inhaled plenty of thick black smoke lingering in the air. For these reasons alone, we should attempt to curb emissions.

In the long run, going green tends to be more cost effective. Why don’t we use that argument to push for adoption of cleaner technologies? It seems much easier especially during a recession to get people behind cheap now than hotter temperatures sometime in the future.

The problem with climate change is that it requires a view of the entire planet over several decades to discover a trend. Even if the trend were indicating a man made increase in temperature, it’s difficult to get people motivated because our minds have evolved to worry about local issues more than global ones.

While I understand science and that weather can vary while the overall climate may be trending in a particular direction, take the recent weather here in North West Colorado. Temperatures dropped to -23F or -30C. How can anyone with a spreadsheet convince someone here that the world is getting too hot?

There are many good reasons to curb pollution besides climate change but it gets center stage in the media as it gets people agitated which brings in the ratings. In the time we debate whether climate change is real or not, Monsanto has created another Superfund site or Exxon leaked some oil into the sea. There are real issues that can be worked on right now. Let’s solve those and let climate change fall where it may.

If we focus on the present, the future will resolve itself.