CHASING DOWN THE MUSE:Sharing, and caring for, a planet

Global warming? Cooling? Man vs. Nature? Cycles?

We are awash in science, pseudoscience, name-calling, finger pointing and further polarization of our population.

Instead of rhetoric, why not action?

How about common sense?

No matter your point of view on current thinking, or climatology issues, there are certain simple truths that we seem to have overlooked.

And our education “” as a species “” seems lacking in key ingredients.

How many of us would happily stick our faces on top of the flues of our chimneys? Or stand behind our cars and suck in the exhaust? I’d be willing to bet “” none of us. Because we know that to breathe in enough carbon monoxide is to insure death.

When our ancestors discovered fire, they weren’t thinking about the ramifications of smoke-filled air. Their attentions were concentrated on warmth and the ability to cook food. Those conditions still exist in many third world countries, but have been alleviated by modern conveniences in developed nations.

Air pollution garners our attention when we are confronted primarily by smog. Our eyes burn. Our lungs hurt. Inversion layers trap particulates nearer our lungs. The air we breathe has ceased in its ability to cleanse itself.

What hubris to believe that the atmosphere will continue to absorb and dissipate that which we spew outward.

We know that volcanic eruptions create a cloud cover that alters temperatures, and possibly in our distant past caused ice to cover large parts of our planet. Why do we continue to argue the veracity of unmitigated effluent discharge from factories, mining, or processing plants? Can we really afford energy credits? Trade our bad practices for someone else’s good practices?

And the water. We see it. In Laguna, we know it. How often have our beaches been closed because of bacteria counts that render the seas unsafe for swimming?

Yet for centuries we allowed polluters to foul waters “” in fact, many mining consortiums continue to dump heavy metals into mountain streams and rivers, poisoning all life within a given ecosystem.

It seems we’ve held the same idea with the oceans that we have with the air “” that whatever we throw at them/in them/over them, they’ll process it, digest it, and render it again fresh and clean. But they can’t. They haven’t been able to for a very long time and we are simply slow in recognizing or accepting responsibility for our actions.

I admit I’m wearying of the arguments that surround what is being called “Global Warming.” The believers/disbelievers line up on their defended positions and we hit, again, a kind of stasis.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that anyone can actually defend polluting. Most of us are pleased that restaurants are smoke-free.

The choking air that used to taint our food and cling to our hair and clothing has been legislated out of favor.

We see what small changes in our personal choices can make. Now, if we can only convince those who would foul the air or the seas and call it “commerce” “” or tell us that it’s too costly to change “” that their actions harm us all. That they are not exempt from the long-term ramifications.

Maybe those who dump from a cruise ship ought to be forced to float in the water along with the garbage? Or those who pour chemicals into waterways be forced to swim in that same liquid. Or those who belch toxic plumes into the air be forced to sit atop their smokestacks and inhale deeply.

It’s so easy to turn off our consciousness when our self-interests are at stake, without realizing that we will all pay in the long run. It’s easy to think that in some instances we’ll be dead before the air runs out, before the sea dies. But our children won’t. And their children won’t. Or will they?

Each of us has a choice, from the foods we buy and the way in which they are packaged, to our commuting choices, our ride shares, the waste we toss, and the water we send down our city streets and drains.

Every individual action is part of the collective whole. The air travels the globe on wind waves; the sea on currents. We share the planet, even if we cannot see those on another continent.

What changes can each of us make today? And what about tomorrow?