Climate Change
If you do your research you will see that even though others haven’t withdrawn formally, less than half have actually ratified their agreement. Easy enough to talk the talk.
Climate Control. There’s a 20th century oxymoron for you. Climate control for us is A/C, central heat, rubber boots and an umbrella. And that’s as close as we get to controlling the climate.
Emission control, which is confirmed to be ONE of the causes of the global warming is something we can do something about, and the U. S. has taken the lead in that. We’ve been controlling CO2 emission since 1982. Longer than any other country.
Have the complainers been around the world and taken a look at what the rest of the world looks like? Europe is lagging behind the U.S. even though they’ve been in the Kyoto Treaty since 2005, and the U. S. has not. China overtook the U.S. in 2006 as the biggest emitter of CO2, while under the same treaty. 9 out of 10 people on the planet breathe polluted air, the mean global temperature is warmest in 1000 years and the level of CO2 in atmosphere is the highest ever. That’s what one set of experts say. Another set says there is less than 1 degree of temperature change since 1978 and no additional warming since 1998. While the rest of the world is reporting to each other on their failed treaty progress and making adjustments to their promises, the U. S. is the only country that has actually produced any improvement. Without a treaty.
Pouring resources into foreign governments to fix this isn’t the answer. The source is ourselves. If every country does what they say, and do what’s right for their country, together we might accomplish something. Obviously a treaty has little effect on human virtue.
So here’s what I’m proposing, women. You showed your power last January, so how about it, let’s save the planet.
Landfill gases do have an effect on climate change. CO2 and methane; methane is 25X more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Landfills are the 3rd largest source of methane in the U.S.
In our landfills we have 7.6 billion pounds of nonbiodegradeable garbage, enough to stretch to the moon and back nine times – every year – that comes from “disposable” baby diapers. The 3rd largest consumer item in our landfills, overplayed only by newspapers, beverage & food containers. 95% of American babies use 27.4 billion single use plastic diapers annually. Each baby, over a two-year period uses 2000 pounds of “disposable” diapers, a ton of toxic waste. Most of them are disposed of while still filled with feces, not washed out. They will lay underground polluting and contaminating ground water with human waste. This isn’t the responsibility of governments.
You can do this. Make a little hat out of the diaper. March to Washington and get as many thousand signatures as you can from moms who will promise to not use these every day. If the landfill reduction is significant, sign on for a second year. It’s easy to talk to the talk, but not so easy to walk the walk, is it? Not so easy to assume some responsibility. Much easier to make it a government problem. Especially since you decided last November to rail against everything the president does, even if it’s for the good of the country.
We’re talking about your convenience. Your time. Washing, drying, folding, having to change the baby often, with the convenience right there by the crib, pull it out, put it on, toss in the garbage. Forget how much it costs you to use these. Forget yours isn’t the only baby on the planet. Babies on welfare get “disposable” diapers, too. Forget the billions of taxpayer dollars to clean up after your family. That makes it personal.
Trump knows human frailty. He knows the biggest problem is stewardship that can only be fixed with humility, self-discipline, self-sacrifice, and caring as much about the country as you care about your convenience, self-indulgence, immediate concerns, and righteous indignation to make our problem someone’s else’s responsibility. All the governments, all the money and effort in a world treaty will not make a difference until every person assumes stewardship.
We can’t handle the polar ice cap, my friends, but we could do something about the landfill emissions that might make a difference. Go make a hat, let’s go. We might have to open a cotton mill in SC to produce nice cotton diapers so we can eliminate that pile of poo in the landfills.