Global Warming vs. Real Humanitarian and Environmental Disasters
Mostly, I like to deal with timeless concepts. Now, reluctantly, I embark on a topic that is not timeless: global warming.
Contrary to popular belief, mankind is not driving the heating of our precious Earth. Science (Not the flags of junk-science that the fanatic’s wave so boldly.) does have the answer to what is the driving force of our planet’s thermostat reading. Drum roll please…..the Sun.
No, it’s not very flashy (well actually…) and does not really inspire crisis oriented, mob reactions, but it is the truth. And that leads me to a book that I will never write: Make it Sexy, How to cash in on power by changing world views through promoting crisis. (I know it’s a great title with a strong subtitle, but I can’t stomach the thought of wasting time on issues that should be self evident. So, if anybody wants to use the above title and write a best seller, all I ask is for an autographed copy when you publish.)
Veracious comments on Al Gore’s award winning film “An Inconvenient Truth” have been widespread in the scientific community, but the counter current of anti-carbon dioxide opinion has been mobilized for sometime (beginning with energy lobbyist who wanted governments to fund and ease regulations on nuclear power…trust me!). It is the volume, hope, and inertia of this movement that keeps the soft minds of the ill informed littered with emotional tripe.
If it had not been for Al Gore, and his recent testimony before congress I would not have weighed in on this subject. But, after watching the media and many legislators submissively pee all over themselves just to be in his presence (Just watch, some supporters will start to capitalize “his” and “he” when referring to AG), I had to sit up and take a closer look at what was going on. My blogging fate was sealed when I read his preposterous quote:
“The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, ‘Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it’s not a problem.’ If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action.”
Excerpt from Al Gore’s testimony before congress: March 20, 2007
This just shows how long it’s been since I’ve paid attention to such things …last I knew it was “Mother Earth” …now It’s “Baby Earth.” Does it still take a village…?
In spite of my confusion, it’s my belief that the global warming packies are made up of wonderful, compassionate people who really care about life on this planet. On that, I’m with them whole heartedly. Yet I’m not at all sympathetic to the hysteria generated by the global warming racers like Al Gore.
Perhaps if the skies were not so full of CO2, we could all agree, but for now it’s clear to me that political power is at stake, and the leaders (pacers and racers) of the global warming movement want the power so they can control each one of us and make us behave as they wish (not as they do). Sure, it sounds sinister and big brotherish… and in reality, it is both.
In my next post on this subject I’ll discuss the political power grab we’re seeing, but today, let’s look at the facts. (I’ll number these facts so you can comment/attack me easier…see I am compassionate)
- Yes, the earth’s surface temperature is warming.
- Water Vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. It is responsible for 75-95% of the greenhouse effect. Water vapor varries as the cosmic rays from the sun act on the Earth. (Where’s the outrage? Guess it’s just more convenient to ignore this dominant factor completely.)
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is responsible for 3-5% of the relative contribution to the greenhouse effect.
- Less than 0.3% of the greenhouse effect is due to atmospheric CO2 from human activity.
- Patterns of temperature change have been a natural cycle of Earth’s history and each alteration has been driven by that pesky sun.
- No, global warming is not a looming environmental disaster. During the mid-Holocene period (roughly from 7,000 to 5,000 years ago) the northern hemisphere maintained seasonal temperatures which where higher than today. (Sure, I felt sorry for the cute animated polar bear in Gores film, but they lived through our last heat wave and will likely hang in there until man starts worrying about them starving from the global cooling crisis that is certain to follow.)
- Like most Universal phenomenon, man is able to observe, but not allowed to participate.
- Real environmental problems exist; they are caused by man and are affecting the health and wellbeing of real people today. These problems are not due to carbon dioxide or increasing global temperatures. (read: Drop the rhetoric and let’s face the real problems we have caused and can correct.)
- The global warming political movement is deflecting peoples concern away from substantial environmental stewardship and onto a symbolic paradigm which lacks both truth and substance.
- We can slow, stop and reverse many real humanitarian and environmental disasters. But, not if we empower the anti-carbon dioxide political elite. They desire centralized power and totalitarian control, and that has always been the recipe for both humanitarian and environmental disasters. Kind of ironic, huh?
Who Said This? When?
You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down — up to a man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order — or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
Please leave your comment…did you get it right?
Good for Business — Bad for Baby
Finally, I’m at a career high. First, I should thank the parents and children who have provided me with over twenty years of research data. Thank You! Your child rearing decisions; successful or not, now can provide improved health and comfort to countless others.
As for the “career high,” what I’m about to share will not help my business, but it will help a new generation of mom’s and dad’s avoid tremendous grief as they raise their children.
It’s the simple cries in the wilderness which often make the biggest difference. So here it goes: Infant Car Seats are a scourge on the very fabric of humanity!
Admittedly, that is a very strong accusation, but one founded on a huge amount of facts, anecdotal evidence, conjecture, observation and of course facts (Notice the double mention of “facts”…. I think it gives a little more credibility. What do you think?)
Perhaps I’m on shaky ground here; after all I’m a devotee of all things safe: Infant car seats among them. Just like seatbelts, shoulder harnesses and air bags, infant seats have saved countless, precious lives. But the car seat part is not my beef. It is the detachable aspect that I detest. Once the infant car seat is released from the base and removed from the car, it becomes dangerous for the baby, parents and society.
Transporting children has always been a problem, to some degree, in every age and in all cultures. Mostly, a mother walks where she needs to go and carries her baby slung against her body. Usually, some “improvement” comes along and baby transportation becomes easier. It’s not difficult to imagine early Americans trekking across the Great Plains. It probably didn’t take long to fashion a rustic infant carrier by strapping the papoose onto the travois.
Today, safe transportation goes beyond, wondering if the horse will bolt. In this country’s car dominant culture, parents are hugely mobile and activities are excessively abundant. The advent of the modern infant car seat – with detachable base, at first blush seems like a godsend. And it has been an important advancement in child safety; however, there is a plethora of unexpected, negative consequences from this “advancement.”
- Bad for Rest: “Baby’s nap time” now means eyes-closed-in-car-seat, anytime, anywhere. You try sleeping in a moving grocery cart and tell me how restful it is.
- Bad for Backs: An 18 pound baby now weighs in at over thirty pounds (seat, bedding toys, bottle….and baby) Just to put things in perspective, If OSHA ever got jurisdiction over the back seat “workplace,” cars would require modifications which would easily cost hundreds of dollars (each child), not including the mandatory back support belt for the parent.
- Bad for Muscles & Joints: Biomechanically, there is no acceptable way to actually walk while carrying a fully loaded child seat. All the weight is piled on one side (unless you have twins) and the center of gravity is extended far away from the carriers’ body…not at all ideal!
- Bad for Posture: Children are ment to be active even while floating in the mothers womb. When awake, preborn babies are quite active and seldom maintain a single position for any extended period of time. So why would we expect that an infant should stay in “the car seat position” for any extended time? (If you say to yourself, “they seem so content”…read Plato’s “Cave”).
- Bad for Relationships: Natural human contact is substituted for convenience. For whatever reason, God made baby-eyes able to focus better up close and personal (not transitioning fully until about eight months). Their sense of smell is acute and their need for close physical contact is well known. Parking a child on the floor, strapped into a plastic chair may seem convenient, but is it right?
Just to be fair, I should mention that as a chiropractor the detachable infant car seat trend has helped business. In part, my colleagues and I are inadvertently supported financially by the continued abuse these devises inflict. However, in the future, my wife and I intend to buy baby slings for each of our grandchildren. That way their safety seats can stay in the car where they belong.
“It’s All Good!” Not Really, but crashes are opportunities to get a, “Reality Check”
Whether it was a low cloud or high fog, I’m not really sure. But it definitely was the contributing factor which lead to a dramatic spill on the ski slope. Up to that point, the day had been very successful. In fact, after carving down a couple of runs on my snowboard, my oldest son made it a point to send an approving nod my way. Don’t envision a “tight dude stickin’ turns, huckin’ jumps and stylin’ huge air,” because that wouldn’t be me, but I don’t biff (crash) too often, either. So what went wrong?
Since taking up snowboarding, I’ve been forced to take a fresh look at a few of life’s little lessons. Life Lesson #1: Just because it feels right, does not mean it is. Early on, I was taught that even though your mind compels you to lean away from the rocks and steep edges, if you go with that instinct, it is a sure way to lose steering and control. Life Lesson #2: It takes faith to change direction. Another little gem . . . in order to change direction, you must give up the security of the direction in which you are going. Once I watched a woman ignore her instructor. He yelled, “Turn . . . Turn . . . TURN!” By the time he yelled, “SIT DOWN!” everybody was watching as she went right off the run and into the base of a slender hemlock. Fortunately, she was not hurt and we all had to laugh as the accumulated snow resting on the branches dumped on her for nearly a minute.
Neither bad instincts nor lack of faith were responsible for my crash. It was simply lack of perspective. Fresh snow is always welcome, but as we dropped deeper into the cloud, the combination of swirling snow and pea-soup fog created a severe whiteout condition and I lost perspective of the terrain. Where is uphill? where is down? are there bumps I should be ready for? am I on the trail? Suddenly all my questions were answered in a confusing way, as I caught an edge, tumbled sideways, then backwards, and finally face first down the hill. Life Lesson #3: Make sure your perspective is grounded on reality.
In the seventies, if you had a friend that really screwed up, you might help out by saying, “Man – you need a reality check.” Now that we are in the zeros, we never hear such talk. Quite the opposite. Today when a friend really screws up, he is more likely to be told, “It’s all good.” Redefining reality may be the newest American past-time, but just like becoming disoriented on the ski slope, losing an accurate perspective in life can be devastating.
When on the slopes, it’s important to have good visibility, otherwise, you can lose your baring and get hurt. Similarly, when living life, it’s best to keep a keen check on reality. There are obvious things each of us can do to maintain perspective in our life. Limiting TV, shunning drugs and saying “No!” to people who hurt you, are good for starters. Here are some more of mine:
- Go for a long walk. A hike through a forest, or a stroll by the water. Refresh your soul.
- Hold a baby. The younger the better. Soak up the innocence.
- Attend church. Get challenged to learn more about God. Be embraced by His unchanging love.
- Seek out someone who is deeply hurting. Understand their pain. It will lighten their burden.
- Share in other’s joy. Weddings, graduations, births . . . never miss the opportunity to revel in moments of happiness. Smiles are contagious.
Now…it’s your turn. You probably have your own techniques to help ground you to reality and I’d love to find out what they are. So while you’re reflecting on my list, think of a Reality Check you’d like to share with other readers of this blog. Please, comment (or email me ray@earthsuit101.com) your favorite Reality Check.
London and Scotland — Beyond Expectations — Part Seven: “Edinburgh”
Buy the cheese! This may seem obvious to anyone who has been to Edinburgh before, but I was a first timer and never saw such advice in any travel books. Rick Steves probably finds other cities to buy his cheese. I’ve never been a great coinsurer of cheese. I either know; I like it, or I don’t. Guess I’m like that with wine too. The price, the name or even the variety means nothing to me. What I do know is that I’ve now smuggled cheese from two continents back to the US. My cheese smuggling only happens when I’m not traveling with my wife. First it was a round of goat cheese (like I said I don’t know cheese – but it was good!) found in a very backwoods cheese shop in the mountains outside Riobamba. As the Customs/DEA dogs sniffed their way through the baggage at Miami International Airport I was certain I’d, at the very least, provide lunch for them, but they stuck to their mission and I avoided eye contact. Chicago was a breeze after that. No dogs, no worries. These days the authorities seem happy that nobody is smuggling C-4 into the country… ‘course it was probably made here in the first place. Anyway, the cheese is good, and if you go to I J Mellis Cheesemonger you will find they are very helpful about letting you sample until you find the one you like.
Third Hint: It wasn’t something that we didn’t expect and experienced. It was something that we did expect and didn’t see.
While I’m on food I should say we never had a bad meal in Scotland. Even though we were only in Edinburgh for two days, I quickly became convinced that this is a city of great food. Just as I’d like to bicycle through the Highlands, I’d like to eat my way through Edinburgh.
I adore my sisters three boys. They are friendly, smart and hard working. A couple years ago Dehan, the youngest, was a groomsman in his friends wedding. When he showed us pictures we knew they had lots of fun with this wedding. The brides family strongly identify with their Scottish roots, and the wedding, while held in Canada, was more traditional Scot than the majority of weddings in Scotland; men in full tartan regalia (if of traceable Scottish heritage of course) and damsels in classical wedding gowns, bagpipers, drummers and such things as sword dances. That’s the first time I ever saw a member of my own family in a kilt of clan colors. Okay, it was the first time I ever saw anybody in my family wearing a kilt. Fortunately, he looked great, tall and handsome, doing the Farquharson Clan proud.
The formal wedding garb would have been over-dressed in Edinburgh; however we did see men wearing kilts throughout Scotland, most of them in this city. There are kilt shops scattered around and one quickly learns that “hand sewn” is the ticket to quality and authenticity. It is obvious that kilts for men are popular with some men in Scotland, but my guess is that if kilts are going to make a comeback (assuming there was anything to come back from) in the US it’s going to be up to companies like Utilikilts. But for traditional look and style, without the made in Scotland price tag, check out Burnetts & Srtuth.
Assuming you read Part II of this series you are aware we spent a far bit of our London time admiring the automobiles. An amusing side note to that story happened while walking down Edinburgh’s Princes Street.
There are many great things to be said about both Edinburgh and London. However it’s kind of like comparing your cousins. Lets say one comes from Southern California; she’s bright, cheerful, loves to play at the beach and has a flair for fashion. She’s terrific and you really like her as a cousin. So how do you compare her to your other cousin who’s from Montana? She’s terrific too. Healthy and happy and full of life. Only she’s happiest in blue jeans, hanging out with her horse friends and she get excited about church socials.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with either, you love them both, and it’s their differences that makes you enjoy each in a different way. That’s the way it is between London and Edinburgh.
A yellow Lamborghini Gallardo does not look out of place in London. In Edinburgh it is a study in contrast, and becomes a study in humor when you realize it is the same car we had seen drive by our café in London. How do we know it was the same one? Well, during our hour and a half long eat, across from Gloucester Road Station, that particular Lambo drove by at least a dozen times. Maybe all yellow Gallardos look alike, but we noted that driving that car was a slight, young man (early twenties) of Arabic decent, alone in the car talking on his cell phone – each time he went by – very noticeable. Sure enough, as we peered into the window of the flashy, high performance sports car gracing the local landscape, we quickly spotted the same chap. Yes, still alone and still with a cell phone plastered to his ear.
Hen parties: Not sure, but I think I could have gone through my entire life and never written about hen parties. However, since this was a new concept to me (I knew my education was lacking) I will chime in.
Friday, upon arriving in Edinburgh, we bought tickets for the tour bus. It ended up being our favorite way to survey and transport around towns. You meet lots of friendly people from all over the world and see and hear a great deal in a short time. It became obvious that this was also the preferred mode of transportation for young females getting ready to marry off a friend. They were easy to spot. First, instead of speaking German and carrying huge purses, they spoke difficult English (not clucking), carried each other and wore a kind of uniform chosen for it’s brilliance, accessorized with some sort of head gear; antlers or antennas.
Like the Germans they were quite friendly and seemed to be having fun. Unlike any foreigners we saw, the “hens” pretty much stood up and yelled out of the top deck of the bus a lot. Now, my education is complete. The idea of a hen party is to have some fun with your friends before it’s too late. Party on girls!
Now that it appears that I just endorsed the actions of young, drunk, carousing females, I must set the record straight. Christ loves successful human relationships. Jesus’ first public sign/miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Marriage should be celebrated and so should friendships, but our lives and therefore our actions should seek to glorify God.
So when I say, “Party on girls!” I mean celebrate, have fun, enjoy each others company, embrace the moments you have had together, be silly, soak up life and show your love for God and your intent to glorify Him in all of these…they are not mutually exclusive.
Stories of the spread of Christianity throughout Ireland and Scotland are fascinating. Don’t for a minute think that it was spread to the pagans via threats of the sword. Quite the opposite was true of early missionaries. In addition to the must see: Edinburgh Castle, visit Saint Giles Cathedral. A full day was barely enough time for these two incredible historical sights; drama, courage, intrigue and honor still resonate there, like no other place I’ve been.
Us Americans just get wowed by the sheer age of everything in Europe. Imagine, when New York (the city) was full of stick framed shanties and tenements, Edinburgh was a complex city complete with six story buildings that are still sound today. The Scottish enlightenment yielded further architectural and engineering feats that took us another century to rival.
There, I proved my point; I’m and American, and I’m wowed. You will be too when you go to Edinburgh. One might argue that they’ve coasted on the laurels of the greats of the eighteenth century for most of the last two hundred years, but hey, haven’t we all? As you ponder that, check out Robert Adams. Here is a guy that Howard Roark would have felt was a waste of time mixing trappings and developing a neo-classical sense of style, but then again Roark was a fictional character who never built anything and Adams was not only the real thing, but left a legacy that, like it or not, is still emulated today.
If there is another point that should be made about the architecture of Edinburgh, it is the conscious planning which has evolved over the centuries. There are many examples that could be cited, including the Nor’Loch. At first it probably seemed an excellent idea to throw human waste out the window of your high-rise. After all, soon a rain might come and wash it all down into the nearest stagnant body of water. Problem solved. But then again, there usually are unexpected consequences with such perfect solutions, especially when the solution is dilution.
Alas, the visionaries of the city installed drains at low points and instead of keeping the pollution in their own back yard, they allowed the rains to carry it out to the North Atlantic. At the same time, draining the Loch and creating much needed open space for a great park, rails and gardens. Pretty much, that’s what I’m talking about. Everybody’s life was improved (except some fish, of course); health, recreation, transportation, access to affordable housing and the perpetuation of an age old institution known and NIMBY were all brought to a higher mark.
Among the countless examples of thoughtful city planning in Edinburgh, is New Town. Here we go again, being wowed by the antiquity thing; New Town was the brain child of Lord Drummond built in the 1750s. Not convinced? Show me a “New Town” in the US that’s over two hundred years old. Anyway, It’s lovely, in an ordered Georgian way and was a purposeful escape from the city problems of the day. Namely the same things that drive people out of cities today, overcrowding, crime, health risks, having s**t thrown on your head (see Jim’s comment in my post on Fiber) and overpriced real estate. Don’t be surprised to hear our prolific architect friend, Robert Adams mentioned again and again throughout the UK, especially Scotland (national pride), including New Town.
Something which was a particular delight to me, though I’m not certain why, as I really do not like cities, was the wonderfully carved crescents. I’m referring to streets that are quite literally crescent shaped. We are all use to city blocks, well crescents are city blocks with finesse; curved gracefully around a lenticular shaped park are a pair of streets joined at each end. Flanking the park just across the streets, are a continuous row of elegant Victorian styled sandstone flats. We spent two nights in one, in a very nice neighborhood. Sure there was a noisy gang of inebriated young men strolling and singing from one pub to another, but that’s my segue out of Edinburgh architecture.
After walking all day, seeing the sights (seeing some of them twice or three times), eating too much great food, and sleeping dorm style did not make us want to stay out late (other than in London – massive changes in time zones are great for late nights). By Edinburgh we crashed into our bunks a little after nine and read with flashlights until we were too far gone to read on. Surprisingly, I was not upset about being awakened on our last night by a band of weekend revelers on the street below. Especially when I looked at my watch and saw that it was barely 10:00!
The other thing that had to make me laugh was that I awoke to the singing of a familiar tune: “Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?.” I mean how great is this? Sleeping in a youth hostel bunk bed positioned parallel to the giant bay window with a street light shining through the tattered, partially drawn curtains, overlooking a sweet park from the third floor of a hundred and twenty year old building located in a foreign city; waking slowly to the dulled sound of drunk drinking Scotsmen singing the opening theme to a children’s TV program filmed in the US. In addition to the humorous juxtaposition, I instantly recalled being a willing, (and stupid) participant in a large group singing the very same song while walking down Pacific Avenue after leaving the Shamrock Bar in Wildwood NJ. Of course that was in 1979.
When Eli sleeps he does it with gusto. Even though my beaten sports watch no longer has a face plate, it does have a reliable alarm. However, that morning I didn’t need it. It was the last day of our trip. We were to catch a bus at Waverley Station (track work), get the train in New Castle, travel to London’s Kings Cross Station, shuttle over to Paddington Station and then take the Express to Heathrow airport, fly to Chicago O’Hare and on to Seattle, then get driven home. We had a long day ahead of us and both Eli and I missed our family sorely. One missed connection would lead to a fiasco… that was one adventure I wasn’t going to allow. I woke the sleeping giant in the top bunk and went to take a shower. Guess he was excited to see the fam too, ‘cause he was up the next minute.
It was still dark when we hefted our backpacks and hiked to the train bus station. It was obvious nothing happens early Sunday morning. The heavy fog cast an eerie spell on our walk through a vacant city. It caused us to move faster than we had planned, so we hit the station a good hour before our bus was to leave. Fortunately, one of the two people actually present at that hour was a barista. We kicked back and enjoyed an unapologetic breakfast of lunch sandwiches and mochas.
Anybody who reached the line for the bus more than a ten minutes before it was to leave, got to meet the train in New Castle on time. We watched as they held up about twenty people, and told them, “No room, it’s full. There’s another bus, it’ll be ere shortly. Don’t worry.” They should have worried…that second bus never made our train. An hour early…maybe a bit excessive, but we made our connections!
The Revelation: Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for. The bus ride was Scotland’s last shot at providing the “complete” Scottish experience for us and as you know (if you’ve read the other related travel posts) we left disappointed. So what is all the fuss about? The answer is very hairy, owns a tail and has hooves. That’s right: The
humbleabsent Scottish Highland Cow. Not one to be found anywhere we traveled. None found in the Highlands where one might look first, none in the Central Highlands where cattle seem more common and finally none in the Lowlands, where we were so desperate that any shaggy cattle-like beast would have counted.Within days of being home I saw about twenty Scottish Highland Cattle on two different farms within fifteen miles of our house. Granted, our study was unscientific, but the conclusions are intriguing: Scotland no longer has any Scottish Highland Cattle. They live here now!
