Sometimes people say things so uninformed, no matter how much time passes, you simply can’t stop it from bothering you.
Dennis Miller, in his latest stand-up comedy special, said such a thing in the course of his discussion on global warming. He stated that the estimated climate change caused by various human activities sits at 1.8 degrees. Which is a fairly popular figure among climatologists. And, of course, it does not sound like too much.
And that is precisely what Miller continued to joke about in his routine. However, there is a small problem here because a climate change of that nature can cause significant damage.
In fact, it has done so before. In the 17th and 18th Centuries there was a phenomenon commonly known as the “Little Ice Age.”
Only a few degrees difference in temperature caused this little bugger.
But, it was enough to shorten growing seasons and severely affect some second wave civilizations. One of these was right here in the South and has been dubbed the Mississippian civilization. Their main crop was corn, its growing season was cut short by these slight changes, and they went down a lot quicker than they emerged.
Imagine if temperature changes affected the growing of wheat and grains in the U.S.? How would we feed our livestock? How long would the breadlines be? Indeed, would there be any breadlines?
The point is simple: small changes in the environment can have big consequences and that is very well documented. I mean, what is a hurricane to people, they are fairly common, right?
Well, yes they are, but ones like Katrina certainly are not.
Look folks, thinking human activity does not affect the environment is like saying defecating on your living room floor won’t make your house stink.
Miller’s argument is not silly enough to get a McPhee award, I mean, at least he had a decent figure. But any of you folks out there that think there is no link between humans and environmental problems get three McPhee awards and one lump of coal.
Wait a minute, I think I’ll take that last part back.
