It's Global Warming, Stupid!

- by Larry Powell

1997 Red River flood turned St. Adolphe into an island

So I hear another flood "of biblical proportions" could be headed Manitoba way!

A swollen Red River already has officials in North Dakota and even our province on high alert.

Word is this one could be as bad or even worse, (if that's possible) than the one in '97 that brought tragedy and grief to both farmers and small town residents in the flood plain.

They called the one back then "the worst of the century," following what had been "the worst blizzard of all-time." (Or was it the other way around?)

Whichever the case, it makes me feel like screaming, "It's climate change, stupid!"

What is it going to take for you politicians and you, "average Joes" to wake up from your stupor and see the light? (That industry and big polluting corporations do nothing, is no surprise. I expect better of you.)

As you watch growing evidence of the climate crisis unfold all around you, you remain in a state of denial, preferring instead to "party on" as if there is no tomorrow (& if you don't change, there won't be), driving your gas-guzzlers, developing your filthy tar sands, raping our forests and, sucking up and wasting our precious water sources.

I often tell people that, if such extreme events as the impending Manitoba flood, were not in keeping or consistent with what the experts have been telling us for years, I'd be skeptical, too. But they are not!

The experts are right! You climate deniers are wrong. Get used to it!

As we watch bozos leave their monster trucks idling needlessly, brain-dead motorists lining up at the fast-food "drive-thrus," with their motors running, gridlocks developing in every city at rush hour, choking exhausts triggering smog alerts, why is it so hard for you to believe that you are responsible. You are!

Do you ever put your brain in gear and wonder, "Gee, how bad might this get? What kind of world will your kids be living in when they grow up? "

If you haven't, please do!

The consequences of continuing on "the stupid path" are just not acceptable.

Before you scream, "hypocrite", I should tell you, we drive a hybrid car, travel below the speed limit, recycle, compost, buy carbon offsets, "buy local," grow organic vegetables, take short, "economical" showers, and follow the "When it's yellow, let it mellow" approach to toilet-flushing, even using our bathwater to flush.

(If you think that's stupid, please explain to me why flushing perfectly good, potable, drinkable water, down the drain, only to pollute it for years to come, is not?)

Why do we do what we do? Because *the world is running out of fresh water!(Please also read, "Are we Flushing Away our Greatest Resources?" directly below this post.)

Haven't you heard? Where have you been? Head stuck in the tar sands? Pick up a book! Read a newspaper! (No, I don't mean the sports pages.)
Listen to Radio (no, I don't mean the all-music ones with news as an afterthough)! Watch TV (preferably the news or documentaries once in a while, not "2 1/2 Men" or "Bachelor")!

The way I see it, the time for "making nice" has passed. And I'm sick and tired, frankly of "going it alone," waiting month after month, year after year, for you to smarten up and do the right thing!

JUST DO IT!
======

P.S. I know those of you who "get" the climate crisis won't take offense.
l.p.
======

Please also read another - "It's Global Warming, Stupid" here.

=======

(Resource News International) -- Flooding in the Red River Valley this spring could cause at least one million acres of North Dakota farm land to go unplanted, according to a U.S. Farm Service Agency official.