I remember, not long ago, sitting in a church sermon that I attended with my mother, and the pastor shouted out that there was no concrete proof of Global Warming, and those who are “promoting” that Global Warming exists, are simply running around yelling “The Sky is Falling.”
I fidgetted, and kept myself in place, with my mouth shut. It is one thing I am even in this particular church, it’s another when someone is telling everyone to continue to pollute and damage the earth. I could sense my mother was also getting uncomfortable, probably wondering what I was going to say after.
I didn’t say anything. I walked away. It doesn’t matter what I was going to say, because in their eyes, I am the chicken running around yelling “the sky is falling.” My mother likes going to this church. Most of her support network is at this church. And no matter all the things that I disagree with, it makes her happy. That is why I attended, because it makes her happy. She knows my opinions, and I know hers. As we drive home, thousands of dead pine trees pass the truck.
The mountain pine beetle, is a small insect, less than a centimetre long, which lives most of its life under the bark of pine trees, including lodgepole, ponderosa and western white pine.
Normally these insects play an important role in the life of a forest. They attack old or weakened trees, speeding the development of a younger forest. However, unusual hot, dry summers and mild winters in central British Columbia during the last few years, along with forests filled with mature lodgepole pine, have lead to an epidemic. To date, beetles have destroyed millions of lodgepole pine in BC – the province’s most commercially harvested tree. (kudos to: http://www.mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biology/index_e.html)
We say nothing to each other, knowing that global warming had something to do with all of these dead trees.
Does Global Warming really exist? Regardless of people’s various opinions on this important issue, we must stop releasing so much toxins & greenhouse gases into the air. We must reduce our energy consumption. Stop cutting down trees (they are the air filter of the earth!) Find alternatives. Why? Well, think about running your car in your garage with the doors and windows closed. What happens? Now, think about planet earth. Where does all these gases & toxins go? Our trees can only filter so much, and with rapidly growing population, we are cutting them down faster then ever, while increasing the gases and toxins. Even if this has no effect on our weather patterns, it must surely have an effect on every living thing physically.
A friend told me one day, while driving over the Port Mann bridge. People would take pollution more seriously, if they could actually see it. Alternatives would come available much faster. People would change thier actions.
I don’t mind being the chicken running around “the sky is falling.” Maybe the sky isn’t falling, but taking action to help make our environment greener, and healthier for future generations, in my opinion, is a positive thing
