As Fort McMurray burns from an out of control wild fire, forcing the evacuation of some ninety thousand people, fleeing here and there to escape the inferno, is it now time to address Global Warming? In fact, I think it is a very bad time to get into that whole kettle of dead, smelly, stinky fish. For a number of reasons, first, Al Gore claimed that “The science is settled.” on this end of the world apocalypse as we know it theory. In fact, at no point is any piece of science ever settled. But just like one does not swear in a church, bring up such a contentious issue has a better time and place then over the smolder ruins of what used to be a city. The problem being is that Global Warming is not a strictly speaking scientific debate. It has no real standards to compare itself to or what measure to go by. All science is based on study of events in repetition. So I drop the ball and measure it. I do this a thousand times I can measure the acceleration of gravity. Global Warming is a singular event, happening right now. Scientist point to previous events that may show similarities to our modern event, but over what length or period time do we compare it with, how many years, century, or millennium, do we compare this present period with or to? For example, it seems to me that winter is coming about a month later and November and December are not as cold as they used to be. April is frightfully cold the last few years, at least 3 or 4 of them. Is this my subjective view point, or will time passing bear out a shifting of our seasons? Did I detect climate change? Or is that just another example of uncertainty on what time period or term we can use in our understanding of climate change? No agreement on any definition, boundary or timeline exists in the literature even from the scientists who claim Global Warming to be fact. Yet Fort McMurray continues to burn into the long cold night.
On the other side of this debate are the irrationalists; who claim that science is nothing, evolution is not even a theory and that the only work to be trusted is the Bible. They discount the global warming claims not for valid scientific reasons but because they don’t understand anything to do with the scientific method. (Do not pat yourself on the back if you do support the Global Warming hypotheses, you have Al Gore and his religious view of the settled science involved.) Thus we have two distinct sides with strong differences and yet strangely enough, Fort McMurray continues to burn with neither side offering us any solution or even a way to help those unfortunate victims. To which I say, they are both wrong, we need a new third alternative. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies a mass of plastic bottles the size of Texas that by 2050 is expect to grow so that there will be one bottle for every fish in the seas. For all the global warming debate, can we not agree that somehow this is not a good thing and that someone should clean up this mess? Stop adding to this mess, and find a lasting solution to this mess? We can start by agreeing that this is a mess that something needs to be done to fix it.
In the case of Fort McMurray, the cause of this fire; be it a lightning strike or a dropped cigarette, a camp fire not extinguished properly, the cause is not global warming. It is human. The disaster is compound not by climate change, but by a city government that allowed for a river to act as their only fire break, thinking the roaring flames will never jump over the cool water, until they did in May of 2016. See, I don’t need to call upon God to accept responsibility for this disaster. Nor do I need to scream Global Warming or Climate change as if the fault could be so easily assigned. No, the problem is human error and only humans can fix it. A fire break would cost the city money. So much money that they cannot afford it… How much will it cost to rebuild the whole city after fire destroyed it? I am betting that it would have been cheaper to have a fire break. Just a guess mind you, but I stand behind it. I am also betting that the new city will have a fire break and the budget to maintain it each year. Thus I say to you, we need not accept the religious element of either side. I don’t know and I don’t care if Global Warming had anything to do with this, I do know that Fort McMurray continues to burn and someone has to put that fire out. Abstract theories need not apply. So for the bottom line, Climate Change or Global Warming or its polar opposite the deniers need to both step aside, they are doing no good. Not knowing the answer to some abstract Cause Belli won’t put out the fire at Fort McMurray, nor will they pick up an empty plastic bottle. We will put out the fire there, not to prevent Global Warming but to save communities. We pick up the plastic bottle not because leaving it causes Climate Change but because we may need to drink that water, or eat of the fish that live in that ocean. The third path is to have real reasons, to deal with real issues to find real solutions. Leave the abstract world to its own eternal debate. Grab a water hose and help fight the real fire.
But I am countered by the notion that if we could find the cause of the dry weather then we could eliminate the problems altogether. To which I say, that this is silly. Fort McMurray burns by human error in protecting the city with a large enough fire breaks. Forest fires will happen no matter what you think about the science of climate. They will not stop even if we had a complete picture of the environmental change which we at present do not have. The question is to make sure Fort McMurray’s disaster won’t happen again. I can get near universal agreement on making the next city have fire breaks that are larger and more effective. I cannot find any agreement on Climate change, nor upon what to do about it. More study is needed to find a smoking gun. No study is needed to see we have to protect out cities with better security, fire breaks and political will to make sure they are respected.
To Donate to the Red Cross to help out the victims of Fort McMurray, donations are being matched by both the Federal and Alberta Governments.
Thanks for reading!
poetoftruth 