Yes, ’tis the Christmas season again, and everywhere, people are putting together wonderful displays of Christmas lights in, on and around their homes. Such traditional venues such as the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center and the National Christmas Tree here in Washington are also part of the usual display phenomenon.
Since my family has moved in with my father-in-law, we’ve been subjected to only receiving TV via the airwaves (for whatever reason, the man refuses to get cable, even when I offer to pay for it, but that’s for another time), so we have a very limited TV news diet. I forgot how much of an agenda the national broadcasts have, but it gets better:
The local NBC affiliate did a piece on this year’s edition of the Rockefeller Center tree, and they made a big to-do about the fact that it was a 75 foot Douglas Fir from somewhere in Connecticut, blah, blah, blah, and the major development of the tree being lit by 30,000 GE LEDs and powered by solar panels atop Rockefeller Center.
I though, “Hmm, that’s kinda cool. Different, but I can get behind the LEDs and solar power. Interesting experiment, for sure.” That was until I heard this from the anchor’s mouth:
“By using the 30,000 LEDs and the solar panels, this will reduce the amount of carbon emitted, which is a factor in GLOBAL WARMING.”
*vomit* Well, there went my appetite.
I’m really getting tired of this whole “LEDs, CFLs and solar panels will stop global warming” issue. Yes, climate change should be a concern, but not because of the whole human guilt factor. The climate on the planet is always changing, and if we’re not ready or careful, something bad WILL happen, but not as catastrophic as what people like AlGore are predicting.
35 years ago, the issue was global cooling. The next Ice Age would be soon upon us (some people say we’re overdue), and we were all screwed. How did we go from freezing our keesters off to drowning ourselves in the space of 15 years? I’m confused.
Archbishop of Sydney George Cardinal Pell hit the nail on the head when he called global warming a religion, because that’s what I see being touted here. If you don’t believe “the debate is over”, then you’re in the pocket of the corporations and that you want to kill us all. That couldn’t be further from the truth for many of us. I’ve been listening to a lot of Dennis Miller’s radio show lately, and he’s got a pragmatic view of things. He had the founder of Greenpeace on a few months back (oddly enough, the gentleman is no longer with the organization, surprise, surprise), and this gentleman said that the environmental movement has been hijacked by idiots that don’t understand the science behind everything, only that man is bad for the environment.
We CAN be good stewards of the Earth, and should try to be. Stuff like recycling, driving hybrids and utilizing CFLs are just feel-good tactics, but investing in LEDs, compost piles and alternate fuel sources tend to be more prudent, because they do tend to produce better results. Plus, I think a lot of these alarmists don’t realize how resilient the Earth tends to be, especially when reclaiming previously developed areas. I saw a lot of stuff like that when I was a kid. That’s an ignorant and rather foolish assumption to take. The planet’s been here well before we came along, and it’ll still be here once we’re gone.
So, the next time you decide to do something that’s beneficial to the environment, don’t go spouting propaganda just to make yourself feel good. Just go with the flow and know that you’ve done your part.
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