I was walking to church in Bismarck at 8:00 in the morning today. It's a nice short walk, a good way to wake up. As I was cresting a hill, I heard a huge roar coming from the south. At first, I didn't know what it could be. The fantasist in me thought, maybe the USSR is finally bombing us. I knew that wasn't the case, so I tried to think about it more rationally. Whatever it was, it was a huge noise and it was coming from pretty far away; or seemed to be. I looked south and couldn't see what it could be. I still felt like it should have been something catastrophic: a terrorist attack, the coming of the rapture, giant lizards escaping from the ground to eat us all, the return of Zeus. But I realized, the airport is over that way. About four, five miles away. That was probably a plane.
Just a plane. Really far away. And it occurred to me:
Anyone who doesn't think it's possible humans could cause global warming doesn't spend enough time outside.
That statement doesn't mean that I definitely, without question, believe that people are behind global warming. (it's actually not that important to me... even if we aren't causing global warming doesn't mean we shouldn't change our behavior. Because it is damaging, it is Not "good", we're still changing the acidity of the freakin' ocean!) That just means that I believe, without question, that it is possible.
Look at a photograph of the earth from space and at night. Look out your window and try, just try, to see something that isn't impacted by human expansion. Even if you live in the country side, it's difficult. The only place I have been where it is not really difficult is the remote wilderness in central Saskatchewan. Even there isn't not easy.
Or just go walking outside and hear an airplane roar.
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