Just a Brief Note


In Iqalit, Nunavit Territory, Simon Nattaq fell through the thinning Arctic ice due to rising Arctic temperatures.

Global warming? He thinks so. He lost both feet but managed to survive. He says, “Today I am here because the creator allowed it.”

According to an article in The Boston Globe, “the Arctic is the region of the globe hardest hit by rising temperatures.”

There is a report released February 2nd by a UN sponsored group of scientists that indicate “the Arctic’s late-summer sea ice will disappear almost entirely in the second half of this century.”

The Earth is changing. Are we the geological force moving the planet into global warming, which does not mean that all places will get warmer; it could trigger colder temperatures in areas that were warm. There is a giant current (one of many) called the Conveyer belt in the ocean which, if too much ice melts and drops fresh water into the ocean, could stop and reverse direction and, almost overnight, climates could change dramatically all over the Earth.

I studied this stuff in the late 60′s, early 70′s using a text by Odum and a great ecology teacher whose name has slipped out of my mind used to take us out to the Hudson River in slightly upper New York State, near Red Hook. He’d help us collect samples of small wildlife and study the ecosphere to show us how small changes can have major effects. This was while I was a student at Bard College. What freaks me out is that all the things he talked about as coming probabilities are starting to take place now.

I don’t know why people get all upset over second hand cigarette smoke when we walk around with giant exhaust pipes spewing trash out into the atmosphere. Which would you rather suck on — a cigarette or an exhaust pipe?

Just imagine, for a second, glueing all the exhaust pipes of every car and truck in the world together into one giant pipe. Think about it. How big would that pipe be?

Right now, that pipe is pushing carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and other compounds into our fragile but powerful atmosphere.

When cars were first invented, no one thought about the magnitude of millions of vehicles running all over the world. It was a new concept then. We just take it for granted now.

I’m only 61 years old and I’ve seen major changes in our entire environment.

Have you ever read about Passenger Pigeons? They flew and nested in giant flocks in North America. Some flocks were over a mile wide and 150 miles long. That’s like the distance between Boston and the White Mountains in New Hampshire. It takes over three hours to make that trip by (ahem) automobile. Anyway, those birds would all land at once in some area and the trees would bend with the weight of them.

Humans would set up Gatling guns and bring other types of weapons out and slaughter the birds. I mean, the ground would be piled high with dead birds.

They’re extinct now. Not a one of them survives.

Just think of how many there were and twist your mind around the fact that they’re all gone.

We can change the world.