Forget Global Warming

Is global warming real? Scientists and environmentalists have been talking about the dangers of global warming for many years, about how the ozone layer has gaping holes in it that are letting dangerous ultraviolet rays through, how the arctic ice flows are melting at alarming rates, how the weather is changing due to excessive heat produced by human endeavors, that we are killing our planet. Many people debate the veracity of these claims: this is all simply part of the normal life cycle of a planet, how we are in the midst of a warming period after an ice age, that these are merely alarmist cries from the radical back-to-earthers. And so on, yadda yadda yadda.

Whatever. Forget global warming. Forget all these arguments as they turn the focus away from what is the more significant, obvious, and indisputable fact that humans are devouring the resources of our planet at an unbelievably dangerous, potentially fatal, rate.

There are over six billion humans on this planet. That's 6 000 000 000. Some big number to get your head around. Here's another number to help compare things: that's twice the number of humans as were around in the year of my birth 1965. So the world population has basically doubled in the last forty years. In turn, in 1900 there was only half as many folks around as in 1965.

More people means a greater demand for energy. It's as simple as that.

Energy in the form of food to give our bodies energy for thinking and locomotion; natural resources such as coal and oil to our vehicles for transportation; those same natural resources that are used to produce electricity to give energy to our homes for heating, cooking, and to run other appliances such as televisions and computers...

The sources for this energy are finite. So it's elementary: more people, more needs, less resources to go around, and resources that are being used up at an exponentially faster rate.

So forget arguing about whether global warming is real. Much more important is finding solutions to the energy crisis that is the real threat to our lifestyles. Not a threat to our planet, as the Earth has proven itself quite tough. Even after we exhaust all its fossil fuels, poison all the potable water sources, and create a nuclear winter with radioactive fallout that will kill all humans, the Earth will still be around. Make no mistake, it's really humanity's comfort that is at stake. Maybe, just maybe, by looking at things through such a self-oriented lens more people will participate in reducing our energy consumption. Who knows.