The New Canary in the Coal Mine

Remember the stories about how the coal miners used to take a caged canary with them down in the coal mine?  The canary was sensitive to gas and would die when its level became dangerous – thus, warning the coal miners that it was time to evacuate the mine if they wished to continue living.

The new coal mine is the globe and the new canary that warns of impending disaster is global warming.  The pending disaster is the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet and changing its climate. Here is the difference.  We humans can no longer just exit the mine to escape disaster. We live on the earth’s surface. There is no place else to go besides the planet upon which we already reside.  Don’t count on technology to save us.  It is controlled by those who are the major producers of greenhouse gases.  And their only concern is profit and the pleasures of now time.

There is an area close to a hundred miles northeast of Paris called Champagne.  It is where that bubbly wine by the same name is produced from small seedless black Corinth grapes.  Its cool weather was once ideal for the raising of this grape.  Now, its climate has warmed up to the point of disaster for grape production. Over the past few years, its crops have largely failed and the industry is in dire economic crisis. 

About seventy miles southeast of London, England is an area called Kent.  That champagne grape from France is now flourishing in this area where it was once impossible to raise because it was too cold. The same thing is happening to the wine industry in countries in the southern hemisphere. Climate change is pushing the industry toward the poles.

Because of global warming, the permafrost is melting in Siberia, releasing alarming amounts of methane gas.  In 2020 the temperature in this area rose by 11 degrees.  Methane warms much faster than carbon dioxide.

The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica contain 99% of the earth’s freshwater.  If the Greenland ice sheet melted it would raise the sea level by 20 feet.  If the Antarctica ice sheet melted it would raise the sea level by 200 feet.  Since 1950 Antarctica’s temperature has risen by 4.5 degrees. The ice in both of these regions is melting.  It is estimated that, if things remain the same, by 2050 the sea level will rise by at least one foot.  Consider that in reference to the east coast of America.

The rise of water temperature in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico has contributed significantly to the increase in tropical storms and their intensity.  As the water temperature rises these storms will also increase. This is to say nothing relative to the conflicts posed by the looming scarcity of water around the world.

There are a number of sources of those gases that contribute to global warming.  Carbon dioxide comes from fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) and deforestation.  Methane gas comes from landfills, agriculture, domestic livestock, and melting permafrost.  Nitrous oxide comes from soil cultivation and fertilizers.  Chlorofluorocarbons come from the manufacturing of synthetic compounds.

The primary motivation behind the increase of these gases remains as it always has been – greed.  What satisfies this greed is the conversion of the social order into a consumer society that gages its happiness by its relationship to the material rather than to the people. It’s the difference between a social order driven by economic imperialism versus one driven by democracy.

The canary, if not already dead, is twitching in the agony of its impending demise.  Only our release from consumerism and our embrace of democracy will save us.  And this will not happen until we understand the difference between the two.  Here is the question: How can we make such a shift and remain economically sound?  The canary’s condition says we need to determine the answer with immediacy.  What is your answer?

Robert

mythinglink.com