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A few weeks ago I was leaving the Old Exchange Building after a business event there. As I walked up to my car parked nearby, someone pointed out that I had a flat. Great! I’m in a business suit and it’s hot as blazes.
Then I heard a voice: “Hey buddy, need help changing that tire?” I almost couldn’t believe my ears, but I quickly said “yes.” Joe, a big husky guy who seemed to know what he was doing, quickly got to work as I guarded him from passing traffic. The job was done in about 20 minutes.
Joe said he was an Air Force reservist from Raleigh on temporary duty at the Charleston Air Force Base (changing a lot of tires, among other things). He was downtown for a visit and was on his way to have a few beers, so I slipped him a few bucks in appreciation.
I told Joe he was “a lifesaver,” and that’s exactly the way I felt at that moment.
Joe’s generous gesture reminded me of the incredibly selfless commitment of our National Guard and reserve personnel across the nation. In an age when too many people seem to see the world as revolving around them, we should give thanks every day for the hundreds of thousands of citizen-soldiers who serve our country. Thanks, Joe!
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The end of the world and the people taking us there
By Bill Settlemyer
President and CEO, Setcom Media
The world has certainly experienced “interesting” weather this summer. Record-setting heat waves and raging forest fires in some areas, record-setting rains and floods in others.
Meanwhile, observers in the Arctic are amazed by the dramatic shrinking of sea ice and the Russians are planting flags under the Arctic so they’ll have first rights when the area becomes prime real estate. Glaciers continue to retreat around the world and Switzerland had to cancel last winter’s ski season due to lack of snow.
For those of you not paying attention (and there are a lot of you), these events could well be signals that human-induced global warming is not only here, but is already beginning to have a disruptive impact on our lives, communities and economies. Speaking personally, I am surprised at how different the weather has been since the turn of the century. I’m alarmed, and you should be too.
But have no fear, say the global warming deniers. All is well, or if not really “well,” then maybe not so bad. A recent Newsweek cover story provided a detailed look inside the global warming denial machine, a well-funded and organized propaganda effort much like the past efforts of the tobacco industry to dispute the health hazards of smoking and the addictive power of nicotine.
As was the case with the tobacco industry, the global warming denial industry has used a series of fall-back positions as the scientific consensus has grown regarding the threat to humanity posed by our addiction to carbon-based energy.
The carefully crafted series of fall-back arguments works something like this: The Earth isn’t warming, it’s actually cooling. Oops! Maybe the Earth is warming, but not very much. Wait a minute, the Earth seems to be warming rapidly after all, but it’s a natural cycle and we can’t do anything about it.
Well, by golly, maybe the dramatic increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by human activity is having an impact, but it’s a minor factor. We little insignificant humans couldn’t affect the world’s weather, could we? Oops! It looks like human activity is a major factor after all, and there are going to be major climate changes in the future as a result.
But have no fear, we can adapt: Eskimos have lived in sub-zero temperatures for thousands of years and natives have lived in steaming jungles and broiling deserts for similar periods.
Oops, sorry: In reality, it would be really hard to adapt, but there’s nothing we can do to slow global warming without harming our economies. It would cost too much, so we shouldn’t take action.
Then there’s the old “not settled science” argument, which persists even though the scientific consensus is overwhelming in support of global warming and its potentially dire consequences.
Predictably, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has trotted out a steady stream of commentary seeking to cast doubt. One column made the laughable argument that if there is a scientific consensus on global warming, it may very well be wrong because it was reached by consensus. This kind of argument is called “sophistry” (look it up!). You could argue just as easily that if there is a scientific consensus that the Earth revolves around the Sun, that particular “theory” may well be wrong because everyone believes it.
Many scientists who are deeply worried about the potentially catastrophic impact of global warming still believe that humankind has a brief window of opportunity in which concerted international cooperation to use technology, public policy and the power persuasion to change our lifestyles could defer or prevent truly catastrophic changes that could render the planet unfit for human habitation.
But that would require leadership, clear thinking, and a well-informed citizenry. Public opinion in the United States lags behind other industrialized nations in understanding the threat posed by our continued carbon fuel binge. Instead of leading the world on this issue, we are the homeland of the world’s best organized and funded global warming denial machine.
There is no other threat to our future that compares to this one. Not terrorism, not global competition, not a flu pandemic, not the risk of economic depression. We are fouling our nest, permanently, and we are moving rapidly toward a point of no return. There is no “undo” button if we fail to act. As Yoda said, “Do or do not. There
is no try.”
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