Environmental Awareness *Go Green!!!*

[Giselle]

I disagree and agree to a certain point. Loss of habitat is an enormous concern. But our methods of destroying habitat are contributing to enviornmental health (or, rather, lack thereof) and the subsequent global warming. Slash and burn techniques in the Amazon kill innumerable animals and destroys precious habitat, yes. But it also produces acid rain and an even larger amount of CO2. Habitat destruction and global warming go hand in hand. In an effort to curb our CO2 output, we should also be aware of how we leave our footprints in the world.

Indeed, the earth has been around for more than 100 years. But in the 100 or so years that we've been studying it, we've managed to look back in time at least 650,000 years in terms of ice ages and heat waves. While that is nothing compared to our actual time on the earth and the earth's age itself, it provides a good look at what normal activity is and isn't. What we're experiencing now is not normal by any means.

Perhaps we are overdue for our next ice age, but human activity is certainly speeding it up. And should we completely ignore the signs, we might as well sign off now and continue living the trash-exorbitant lifestyle that we, as a whole, live now. The point is not to debate whether or not global warming is "real" or that it truly is happening. My point was to mention that these things are truly happening, and while they are nature driven to a certain point, we are speeding it up at an insane speed. Is that not digging our own graves? I read the article and I did not read that the antartic is "cancelling" out the overall sea level rise:

Sea level is believed to be rising worldwide by 1.8 millimeters a year due to the expansion of warming water and the added outwash from melting glaciers in Greenland, Alaska, tropical highlands and elsewhere in Antarctica.

The growth in the East Antarctic ice cap is enough to slow sea-level rise by a fraction of that — 0.12 millimeters a year — the researchers reported.

If I did my math right, that's about 6.67%. That's not nearly enough to set back the effects of glacial melting. I'll need to get back to this as Christmas festivities are calling me, but I'll finish this later.

Continuing on So we've come to the conclusion that 1) the earth has always had heat waves but there's no doubt that this heat wave is much prolonged and much more intense 2) habitat destruction is a definite problem and a large contributor to global warming 3) the enviornment is definitely in need of a little boost. So one thing is crystal clear: We as a whole community need to do something. This was the whole purpose of my initial post: to call PTers forward and urge them to make an impact in their community, and, hopefully, in the larger community - our earth and our world. It's commendable that you are so passionate about tropical forests and such as the destruction of these precious and diminishing habitats is a large contributor to global warming and the overall health of our earth and its inhabitants.

While this, er, debate might seem troublesome, I think this is a fabulous learning experience. I hope PTers do read this and make some wholesome decisions for themselves. Plant a tree (lots of trees!!), buy local and organic, dump your old gas guzzler for a more efficient car, replace your lightbulbs, replace your old appliances with EnergyStars, walk dont drive, heck, you might even consider going veg! And fight to keep your local flora and fauna. Global warming requires global changes. Global changes start locally. Let's all start locally, PTers.