In most things, I am not a proponent of blind faith. I am a professional skeptic whose cynicism runs really really deeply. But let me talk to you about an exception to that rule.
I was listening to NPR this morning because I am a city-dwelling liberal elitist who never developed a taste for country music, guns, Sean Hannity, or the American way. During my 5 minute trip to take my son to school, I listened to a report about a 15-year-old girl who has become a champion of the group of people who doubt that humans are responsible for global warming.
This girl seemed really smart. She was impressive. She had done a ton of research. And she had come to the conclusion that humans are not responsible for global warming and that cyclical climate change was to blame. She gets lambasted for bad science by most grown-up researchers, but she generally fires back that their science is bad. I think that’s the scientific version of calling someone a hater, but that’s a different post.
Unfortunately despite all her intelligence and considerable determination, this particular young lady and the global warming haters who champion her are missing the point. It doesn’t matter if global warming is caused by humans or not. You should still believe it.
Let me explain. If we believe that global warming is caused by humans, rightly or wrongly, we all become environmentalists. After all, what do the scientists behind the theory tell us to do? Clean-up industry, recycle, improve gas mileage, explore alternative “clean” energy sources, carpool in the meantime, protect the forests, don’t pollute. That’s about it.
It’s the global equivalent of your mother telling you to clean your room. If you’re anything like me you whined, “but why mom!!!” And if your mom was anything like mine she replied, “because it’s filthy and no one should live like that.”
Doesn’t the same sentiment hold true on the larger scale? Our planet is filthy. You can’t drink the water, you probably shouldn’t breathe the air, and I can find a Snickers wrapper in even the most remote patch of forest. If we had a collective mom, she’d be screaming at us to clean our room. “But why!!!” Because it’s filthy and no one should live like that. Failing that she would probably lapse into “because I said so.”
So think about that for a minute. Even if I believe we are causing global warming erroneously, the actions that my belief leads me to are good for me and for everyone else. Even assuming for a moment that skeptics of global warming are right, what good does that do any of us? It gives industry a free hand to pollute, it boosts the auto industry’s bottom line, but what good does it do any of the actual people that live here?
Like I said earlier, I’m no fan of blind faith. But this seems like the exception to that rule.
