Is Global Warming the Fault of Human Activity?

Don't be scared....... No I have not acquired a doctorate in environmental science and I won’t pretend I have. I am not going to lead a heated debate on global warming and who or what is the cause. These are some thoughts that have been bouncing around the last few days.

Global warming, ice caps melting, coastal cities being deluged with the sea, rainforests disappearing…..These are all the effects of global warming. I think everyone can agree that the earth is getting oh so slightly warmer and these things are happening. What people do not agree on is what is the cause of this.

Environmentalists say that human activity is the cause of global warming, some (especially the republicans I work with) say that humans have nothing to do with it and this is a normal cycle the earth is going through. I will admit that I have not read enough information to make an educated decision in the matter. ON one hand, I find it hard to believe that we have not made a difference in the climate of the earth, on the other hand, I was not here at the beginning of time in order to say in all certainty that the earth doesn’t just warm on its own.

In all, I really don’t care so much what the cause is. I like what the thought does to people’s behavior. If thinking that we are the cause of global warming can motivate people to act more responsibly than I am happy with that resulting behavior.

I think the bigger picture that we all need to come to grips with is that we are an exceedingly wasteful society and considering that the many of the earth’s resources are limited if we do not change our over consumption lifestyle we are going to run out of resources.

John and I are really trying to look at buying less, looking at the packaging that contains our favorite products. For example he loves that new low calorie Gatorade drink G2. Great, but the bottle cannot be turned in to our recycling center. That bottle, when it goes to the landfill is going to be there for generations. We could try to reuse the bottle, but I read so many different things about the plastic chemicals leaching into the liquid that you refill it with. What’s a wanna be green girl to do? This may not make a difference, but John is going to call their consumer help line and complain that the bottle could be made out of something else or they could offer the product in a gallon jug instead of only as individual servings