I have an aquarium at home. The big cichlid in there, whom I named Harold, and his guppy friends (no, he doesn't seem to eat them) are totally dependent on me, the pump and filter, and clean water.
The fish would die-quickly- if his little ecosystem were poisoned, if the water temperature dropped or rose too much. Many of us have aquariums and make sure to take care of our tropical fish. Why then do so many Americans think so little of the ecosystems which sustain us?
Why do we not realize that rising temperatures, will in the end kill us?
99% of scientists have agreed for decades that climate change is real--not "a religion" as the Lee Zeldin, the current EPA (non-scientist) Administrator said.
He and the legions of lobbyists and lawyers with which he's staffing the agency, after firing the professionals, are slashing any regulations on auto emissions, and other pollutants, ending any green energy funding, and questioning the "Endangerment Finding," which states that climate change is a threat to global health.
According to the World Health Organizations, and other public health experts, Climate Change is the number one threat to public health, nationally and globally.
The 1.9-degree F temperature rise over the last century has caused not only uncomfortable days but millions of excess deaths from heat exhaustion, dehydration, stroke, heart attacks, starvation from drought, and increase in infectious diseases. Psychologists note that Climate Change has helped fuel the depression epidemic, especially in the young.
Temperature rise has been much more dramatic in the oceans and the Arctic. Arctic regions have seen increases of 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.5 degree Celsius) over the last century. The Arctic Ice Shield is melting rapidly, leading to rising sea levels and increased flooding. Warm water evaporates faster, leading to increased water vapor in the air. Water vapor itself traps more carbon dioxide, leading to more global warming. And it leads to more dramatic and destructive weather--hurricanes, tornados, high winds, millions of people displaced, injured, killed.
All this flooding leads to an increase in water borne illness, destruction of healthcare systems, and much more anxiety, and depression, which may help fuel the opiate crisis which is again getting worse.
Hotter air and high winds in Canada are fueling infernos of biblical proportions-- causing smoke that is make life unpleasant, and air dangerous to breathe throughout the Northeast United States.
Summer is no longer an assured season for outdoor play for our children in much of the country and the world. Rates of asthma and allergies are rising, as are tick and mosquito populations, with increases of heretofore rare tropical illnesses, and Lyme disease.
Methane--because of its geometric complexity---traps more infrared energy on its way out of the atmosphere and so is 20-80 times worse a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Natural gas is 70-90% methane. Even though natural gass burns more cleanly than coal, p to 6.5 million metric tons of it leak a year during the production processaccording to the MIT Climate Portal. That makes natural gas a significant contributor to global warming.
And every time we google something now, AI pops up to help us. The meteoric rise in artificial intelligence, has led to the creations of data centers the size of small cities, mostly fueled by natural gas.
Think of that the next time you want to google something. Maybe do a search on DuckDuckGo first;; it's just as good, doesn't default to AI, and doesn't sell your personal information to advertisers.
Because all of us--doctors, parents, citizens-need to fight the Orwellian doublespeak that is substituting for the truth for this Administration. We all need to be environmentalists, if we want our children to have a livable world.