Can You Say "Moral Imperative" Ten Xs Before a Cow Farts?
Last night I watched CBC news, something I rarely do, as I really can't stand television news, and it was punctuated, inexplicably, by a little lecture to viewers courtesy one Rex Murphy.
Now, I don't really know much about Rex Murphy beyond the alien jokes, etc., but I have to say now: "Shut up, Dumbass."
I'm not sure what the point of the lecture was, beyond letting us know that Rex Murphy is a Dumbass, but he seemed to be saying, something to the effect that, true or not (the lecture was on Climate Change - "Do We Believe 100% of Scientists? Or Do We Trust in Sceptics?") Canada isn't very important.
True. But we are a first world country that has made a pretty good name for itself by burning lots of fossil fuels. And we'll be the first to complain about it when the polar ice melts and the glaciers disappear and all that water what's been diverted to develop the Alberta Tar Sands is gone and Alberta beef is only available in dessicated cube form.
But he did get me thinking. Not about why someone as Dumbassy as Rex Murphy is allowed out at night, but how it is that now EVERYBODY is suddenly in agreement with what scientists have been saying in unison for well over 20 years - that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are causing a global warming that is leading to changes in our climate.
UNDENIABLE changes in our climate.
SO what, Dear Reader, is it that I think has changed the popular tide - even on the Dumbass Right - from denial of climate change to acceptance, in fact, that it may even be man-made?
First person weather experiences.
Even Exxon can't buy it's way out of that kind of proof.
My co-worker is a steadfast denier of climate change. He cites volcano eruptions as proof that what man can do to affect climate change is nothing compared to what Mother Nature can do. Mother Nature being the lady consort to Father Time - Jesus's Grampa.
He's a Rightwinger.
Still, even the most fervent denier of man as the cause of climate change can't deny that the climate is, indeed, changing. Because now we can feel it. Ask around. Even people in Ottawa were happy - HAPPY! - when the cold finally came to our town. There was a collective raising of spirits, a veritable happy sigh of delight in the air. A happy sigh, not the usual "kill me now" sigh, of Ottawans in winter.
And now we're in a "hold our collective breath" pattern in hopes that winter lasts until spring. Gone is any hope of no winter. I'm telling you - our bodies are hardwired for winter starting in November and lasting until April. I'm only middle-aged, but I may as well be Methusala for all the acceptance I had of this year's "change of seasons".
It was, quite simply, unnatural.
Climate change is causing depression. I can feel it in my bones. When those cherry trees bloomed in Washington this winter and people in Southern Ontario reported daffodils showing up in December - and that may have been what did it - I don't know - there was a sea change in belief about climate change. A tide that can't be turned by paid deniers because even Rightwingers have a hard time buying that Mother Nature can move ahead of Father Time.
Even my co-worker could feel that late start to winter wasn't right.
That's because cherry blossoms in winter is a most unnatural thing. And when unnatural is the result, man is the cause. We know this from cosmetic surgery. No one looks like that, naturally. Even the most deformed freak of nature doesn't look that way naturally. That kind of freakishness can only come from cosmetic surgery.
It's man-made. Not natural. We can tell the difference.
Which brings us back to Rex Murphy, Dumbass-at-large. Should Canada actually DO something about greenhouse gas emissions (etc.) and not just be SEEN to be doing something? Act as a leading moral force of change while actually BEING a leading moral force of change? (And by the way, let me be the first to predict the phrase "Moral Imperative" will hit the billion mark before the end of 2007 - and that's just by politicians. Pundits will bring it up to a trillion by the end of 2008.)
And is it really up to individuals to make the difference here, as our Mr. Murphy suggests? Because this is what IS being suggested. Mostly by all and sundry who are actually in a position to LEGISLATE EFFECTIVELY against man-made greenhouse gas emissions. That the best thing would be for government to give over to the people on this one. (I'm not sure why Rex Murphy is suggesting it. Because he's a Dumbass, maybe?)
Well, I don't own a car. I live in an apartment with no air conditioning. And I'm not an Alberta Tar Sands Developer/Investor/Spin-Off-Benefitter.
How's that for starters? Anybody else fit at least ONE of the above? Good.
Your turn, Government of Canada.
