Rick the Green: I have waffled back and forth for a long time on this green issue. On one side of the argument I agree that we need to take great care of the earth, I feel that it is the mandate that God has given to us. We have been entrusted with this home and we should do the best that we can with it. On the other side I listen to the ranting lunatics who scream that the earth is about to be destroyed by mankind, then get on their private jets and fly to the next location to scream about it again. Guys like Leonardo Di Caprio who have absolutely no scientific background who make movies with terrible science really bug me. I applaud their passion for their beliefs, but the make statements that have no evidence in fact. Gore’s latest statement that New York City will be under water by 2057 is keen. I might be around at that time (albeit very old), and if I am I think I will have a party in Battery Park.

As I have argued this point, I just keep coming back to one simple question again and again, “Where is the science”. There are a few facts that I have been able to determine. First, “greenhouse gases” are here and always have been, although we haven’t always called them that. The radical fringe says that our CO² emissions are what is causing this dramatic increase in heat to our earth. While the fact of the earth rising is still being investigated, and the source not totally agreed upon, the participation of this gas is known. Currently CO² contributes to .036% of the greenhouse gases. While we should certainly do all that we can to not increase this gas which makes up one third of one percent, the greater threat seems to be from methane, and the chief culprit for that is rice fields. Why doesn’t anyone scream about those who eat rice?

I have finally found my place in the environmental movement, and it is with those of a scientific background, who speak of facts, and who live lives that reflect that. Dr. Patrick Moore exemplifies that. Dr. Moore is the co-founder of Greenpeace and uses logical science to prove and disprove those theories so prevalent today. For instance, one of the interviews in Di Caprio’s latest flop movie speaks of the need to stop logging in America because of its harm to the environment. She seems to make sense even if she doesn’t support it with any facts. Wouldn’t we all agree that cutting down forests seems like a bad idea for the environment? But as Dr. Moore explains, logging companies are some of the best things for the eart, and they are very environmentally friendly. When they clear land to harvest timber, they replant new trees. They do it so that they can have another harvest in the future, but the results are new trees. Younger trees are much better at converting CO² through the process of photosynthesis into sugars and new wood. An old tree doesn’t convert as well. So we see that when a forest is replanted it does a much better job of cleaning the air than the old forest. Additionally when a forest is cleared the underbrush and dead wood is cleared. Left alone this causes tremendous potential for forest fires which put out tons and tons of CO^2. Now that makes sense.

As a footnote, I don’t write off all of those in the environmental movement who don’t have a background in science, just those who don’t and don’t live it. I applaud people like activist Ed Begley Jr. who lives the life and encourages others to do so. But Ed walks the walk, and that is someone that I could walk with.