A Social Traditional's view of climate change
An Uncertain Focus
The beanie-clad, long-skirted, Birkenstock-wearing crowd stands alongside the road chanting “Corporate greed! End global warming! Love the earth!” It is one of the many rallies around America consisting of a bunch of hippies and tree-huggers, admonishing companies for their “harmful” choices in regard to the environment. As I drive past, I think about how their radical ideas regarding global warming are not conducive to the true American tradition.
I don’t want to imply that I think global warming doesn’t exist. However, entrepreneurial spirit is an important aspect of American society, and perhaps all this talk about handling climate change is just a bit too extreme. The call to tax certain companies for emissions that harm the earth would only be hurting our economic growth. Such focus on the earth moves distracts from the values that built this country. The environment is important, but so are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I question the global obsession with climate change, especially in the United States. Aren’t there more important issues to worry about?
I believe the amount of funding and attention our country gives to global warming should be reassessed. Foregoing more important issues, such as national defense, will endanger our country because global warming is not an immediate threat. The earth does fluctuate in temperature, after all. The weathermen can’t even accurately predict the weather for next week. As a nation, we must reevaluate our priorities. We risk destabilizing our solid knowledge in this country, moving instead towards ideas that are too progressive and flaky. The environmentalists have legitimate concerns, but they do not need to be addressed immediately. We must wait for the situation to become less risky.
Let’s think again about those hippies I mentioned earlier. Where is their solid, rational evidence for the corporate destruction of the earth? I say certainty is better than risk. These environmentalists are too caught up in what might happen, one hundred, two hundred years down the road. That kind of thought only creates obsession and frustration because there are no current concrete solutions or answers. Instead, I propose we focus on finding answers grounded in our national identity, not this earth-loving, spiritual connection uncertainty. Leaders of the nation should be focused on feasible, solvable problems that do not involve vague predictions and “possible” solutions. We want answers grounded in solutions we know will work, not ones that may put us in less danger.
Global warming is a problem. But is it the most pertinent issue? I don’t believe so. America, take a step back and get some perspective. Let’s look at the threats to our country and focus on solving the ones we know we can solve. Avoid the vague, America. Live in the rational, traditional world.