Still from the documentary, Disruption (credit: FilmsforAction.org)
If you stand on one leg on a moving bike, you will likely fall over. If you do so on the solid ground, you might not. So it feels like the Earth is solid and steady. In fact, the Earth doesn't stand still. It revolves, spins, and flies. The spinning powers the systems that churn inside the atmosphere---the winds, heat, and rain ---and weather. Things are always changing. They are changing now, faster than they used to; faster than might be comfortable for us.
An excellent video has been produced by Films For Action with Disruption. It quickly and smartly points to three mechanisms that trap heat, and then trap more heat, and kill lots of animals that we eat. They are existential climate signals:
1. Icecap as mirror: Hot sun hits the cap, and the whiteness reflects the heat back out to space (unless the CO2 and methane trap it.) For an analogy, note that white clothes, too, keep you cool. Losing the icecaps is the equivalent to putt on a black shirt on a hot day. Will that heat the northern ice further?
2. Arctic methane: Gas is frozen in the tundra. If the tundra opens and belches its guts out, will that methane warm the world? Note that methane is a flammable gas. You can light flatulence. Will methane trap heat beyond what's comfortable for humans?
3. Acidic oceans: Plankton can't live in acid water. If no plankton, will animals that feed on plankton -- whales, mussels and birds -- live? Will people who live on those proteins thrive?
Lowering CO2 is not about helping the planet. It's about adjusting the thermostat for our home, so that we can maintain and live in comfort, and raise our children in a cool, thriving world.
Reilly Capps