923 It's the End of the World as we Know It, and I could use a drink!

Message no. 923[Branch from no. 913] Posted by Thomas Culhane (1311520071) on Monday, May 7, 2007 4:36pm Subject: Re: Varshawn....relational summary

Glad to see how your awareness of the intricacies of the global warming process is growing Varshawn!

It is an immensely complicated and dangerous situation, as you have pointed out. What is so very very sad is that Newsweek magazine last month released a cover story article trying to explain "the pros and cons of global warming". (See Newsweek International, 04/16/2007 . PROS of global warming?!!! I found the article sick, because yes, it acknowleged that millions of people would die in Africa and other poor continents, but it said that we should look on the bright side -- ski resort operators can convert their snowless resorts into spas and casinos, and even though the Mediterranean Beaches will be underwater along with coastal cities, beachgoers can now party on the beaches of the Baltic sea and other formerly frigid waters! It said that agriculture would fail in Brazil and Spain, but take heart! We can grow wine grapes in Alaska and Siberia!! So we never have to go a day without Chianti!

And they said that when the ice caps melt we will find it easier to drill for oil!! They actually said that! Gee, that way we never have to stop using the messy cancer causing stuff!

It is the most egregious example of how out of touch our media and political machine is with the state of the world when all over the world Newsweek is telling people "the party won't stop for the rich and famous just because the rest of the world will be suffering so badly!" Look on the bright side, right? Every dark cloud has a silver mining for the rich!

As our text book points out, at some level increased heat can lead to agression, and at another level it can lead to apathy. What such environmental determinism doesn't explain is how the partying greedy rich, in their air conditioned luxury cars and yachts and villas, can do such violence to the world and what makes them, no matter what the temperature, create a climate of lies and distortions so that they can continue to commit acts of agression against the rest of humanity. By telling the world that Global Warming isn't such a bad thing after all, because wine growers, resort operators and oil companies will still make a profit, Newsweek and other arms of the propaganda machine are acting in the most agressive way I can think of. Do they hope that the rest of us will either be hot enough that we will kill ourselves or so hot we will sit back and vegetate?

Did you guys see that article? What do you think?

Update, September 5, 2007:

A German television program on global warming made the same outrageous argument -- First they showed the dire consequences of Global Warming, then they showed excellent footage on how to insulate your home (conservation of energy and resources is the least expensive and most effective fix we can do!) but then they had a segment on "the bright side" of global warming, interviewing a Scandanavian who has started his own winery because the temperature just doesn't get low enough to freeze the grapes. All I can think of is the title of my friend Professor Scott Sherman's excellent environmental thriller: "It's the end of the world (as we know it) and I could use a drink!"