4 Things Fifteen Thousand Bloggers Need To Recognise

One by one they all flooded into it, and I couldn’t believe it…

What am I talking about? My Google Feedreader! Over the past 24 hours, it has been flooded with post after post about helping the environment. It was initiated by Blog Action Day, which started a few months ago, asking bloggers to sign up in support of what BAD represents.

What does it represent?

Well it appears that each year, on the 15th of October, BAD is going to try and encourage bloggers to write about, and support some ‘world’ issue; something which effects us all. Bloggers may not only write about the issue, but they are also encouraged to financially aid charities and organizations which focus on the ‘issue’. A commendable desire.

Who is behind it?

Primarily, three highly influencial bloggers, who author very popular blogs. Collis Ta’eed, his wife Cyan, and Leo Babauta. This has, without a doubt, helped drive the speedy popularity of BAD, with each of these blogs influencing thousands of people each and every day.

This years ‘issue’

So what topic did the folks behind BAD choose for their first year? The environment of course!

We’ve all been aware of climate change for many years now. I can barely remember a time when I didn’t know about ‘global warming’, and I recall learning about the ‘green house effect’ in the latter years of primary school (which seems like an awful long time ago now).

So what’s the problem?

Well, as much as I commend the guys behind BAD, and the 15,000 bloggers who signed up to take part, I feel there has been a lot of ignorance shown in the topic of climate change and the environment. I’m all for cutting down on paper, reducing electricity, not changing my computer as often, and being more a more curious consumer about where things come from, and where they’ll end up, but, we have to be realistic, and honest about it as a whole.

Let’s break this down:

1. Climate change is real

The earth is warming up, there’s no doubt about that. It has been proven through temperature records over the past century. In fact, the amount of warming (globally) has been about 1.2°F (0.67°C) since 1880 [Kluger, p. 38. Back].

2. It is not a fact that human activity is responsible

Let’s get this straight - there is no hard evidence to prove human activity has caused this slight fluctuation in global temperature. The Greenhouse Gases which contribute to the warming (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone), come mostly from natural sources.

In fact, there is evidence to show that the global climate has fluctuated up and down repeatedly over the years, and that it’s just part of a cycle which has existed for centuries. Respected scientist Ken Ham, on his recent trip to the Fair Weather mountains writes,

“It was interesting to hear the park ranger (who boarded the ship to give commentary) say that the glacier that eroded Glacier Bay was at the coast 200 years ago—then it melted fairly quickly—and now it is melting back but not as quickly. She then went on to say that global warming caused by man (pollution, etc) is responsible for the glaciers melting back. I don’t think she can see how illogical her statements were, as 200 years ago, man would not have contributed much in the way of pollution from industrialization!”

3. We need Carbon Dioxide to survive

To listen to some environmentalists, you’d think Carbon Dioxide is a bad thing. It’s completely rediculous! If there was no Carbon Dioxide, we’d all be dead! Pretty much all plant life depends on it, and if there was no plant life, we wouldn’t be here.

For this reason, I don’t think our problem is with our emissions of CO2, it’s with maintaining the forests. I definately support this, but more for the wildlife aspect than for keeping down the CO2. Plants and trees are growing, and can be grown in many areas of the world, but you can’t move all the wildlife. Serious action should be taken in South America in particular.

4. Greenpeace is not a charity

The ignorance here is what disappointed me more than anything else in this BAD idea. Greenpeace was chosen as one of the ‘official charities‘ to support. If you don’t already know, Greenpeace are globally known as liars, using exaggerated and ungrounded scare tactics to bleed the pockets of society. Even founding Greenpeace member, Patrick Moore, has blasted Greenpeace (and others) for its lies. He commented on The Great Global Warming Swindle,

“See, I don’t even like to call it the environmental movement any more, because really it is a political activist movement, and they have become hugely influential at a global level.”

Greenpeace are just part of an international political wing, spreading lies and propaganda to facilitate their not so pure intentions. In fact, they’d rather watch people starve, than give them GM foods.

Summary

I’m not against what BAD is trying to do. Not at all. However, I would be a little more careful in who I adopt to support in the future.

The reality is, very few will buy smaller monitors, use the car less, and consume less paper than they did before the 15th of October. We’d rather give money, than change our habits. Maybe now would be the time to air our thoughts as to what Blog Action Day should support next year; any thoughts?

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