The War on Warm

They're here.  They're loud.  They're climate change deniers, and they aren't going away.

Alex Higgins has written in the Huffington Post that even some media sources are getting in on the act, despite all evidence to the contrary.  Higgins hilariously describes the process:

"1. Global Warming Denier makes claim

2. Claim is comprehensively, indisputably debunked

3. Claim is withdrawn, while Denier publicly continues to assert they are the new Galileo and their critics are religious fanatics with no regard for facts 

4. New Global Warming Denier makes exactly the same claim as if previous debate never happened"

Although I wholeheartedly agree with Higgins' assessment, I believe that even he misses the point.  You will never be able to quash claims that deny history or science, so long as someone stands to profit from it.  Evolution is still disputed in certain circles, and even the Holocaust has its deniers.  Those who deny global warming provide themselves an easy excuse not to take action on our quickly fading environment.  However, what nobody seems willing to admit is that in the grander scheme of things, the legitimacy of human-caused global warming as a theory is irrelevant.  We are facing multiple issues that are as serious (if not more so) than global warming which are not only indisputable but have not been seriously dealt with.

Let's take a look at some of the issues that have been put on the backburner while argiuing about global warming:

1. Species extinction- not new, indisputable, and a serious threat to the survival of millions of species, including ourselves.  Keep an eye in particular on sharks and bees, on whom entire ecosystems depend.

2. Resource depletion- according to the world's leading geologists, peak oil will likely happen in the next 10 years, if it has not occurred already.  Results include prices hitting the roof on oil and everything that requires it for transportation, manufacturing, or as an ingredient.  Global economic collapse that will dwarf the current recession, and little that we will be able to do about it once it has started.

3. Population control- arguably the greatest threat to the environment.  Humans have by far exceeded their carrying capacity on Earth and have created unsustainable strain on their surroundings.  Other scary results include the potential for worldwide viral pandemics.

4. Global Water Shortages- the next big issue.  Over a billion people currently depend on the Himalayas for water, and like other glaciers, the mountains are losing their permanent ice.

Enough with the partisan bickering.  Let's deal with this thing while we still can.