When it comes to the issue of "Global Warming" denial is not a river in Africa.

The issue has been raised that the comparison of the last 100 years seems arbitrary. But the reality is that the technological developments and the vast increase in the sources of environmental pollutants over that time period have no historic precedent. While we have had devastating natural events in the past that contributed to temporary climate change, we never had a situation where the change element consistently contributed to the problem over an extended period like pollution has been doing for decades.

For those not too afraid to look global warming is already contributing to environmental change, with health, economic, health, ecological and geological consequences for all humanity. Although it might be pleasing to some to have milder winters the changes in weather patterns is already causing a substantial loss of revenue to those who depend on winter tourist. Health wise increased temperatures lead to increased and prolonged exposure to a variety of insect born and other diseases.

The ecological impact would take a score of pages to lay out. Plants and animals that have adapted to seasonal variations over millions of years of evolution may not be able to adapt to dramatic climate changes over a relatively short period of time. Geological consequences, like loss of coast lines due to ice cap melting, will play out over a longer period of time, but will gain momentum unless something is done to change the dynamic (example - melt of ice caps leads to less reflection of heat back into space, which leads to more melting, etc.)

The major problem we face with the issue is not one of science but one of politics. To halt the progression of global warming will require hard decisions and sacrifices on our part, and our politicians don't believe we are capable of that. Another problem is the human tendency to either deny or delay problems that appear too big to grasp. Since the problem here is the health of our planet, and our children's planet, we can not afford either option.

Learn more about this author, Rob O'Hannon.
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