The article currently running on TPM's front page about Carbon Dioxide levels being at their highest in 650,000 years is something that certainly grabs my attention and shouts: "EMERGENCY!" to me.  It is one of the more disturbing headlines I have seen lately and I've been seeing an increasing number of such headlines in recent months.  I've also been quite disturbed by just going outside and seeing what is going on with our environment and how obviously screwed up things are.  I don't understand why this subject isn't on the lips of every Democratic candidate for every office, every single day.  Nor do I undertstand why this is not on the front pages of the newspapers every single day or why it isn't the lead on every news broadcast every hour.  How can we, as a society be so nonchalant and apathetic about the destruction of the very thing that keeps us alive and that provided the circumstances for our emergence as a species? 

If we were all on a wooden boat handed down to us by our ancestors on a vast ocean planet with no land we wouldn't light it on fire for a profit would we?  Of course, not.  It is as though we are not human beings who comprehend the consequences of our actions but dumb animals who no more understand what is going on in the environment anymore than they understand quantum physics or sanskrit.

When I look out my window at the ongoing monsoon rains battering the midwest at the wrong time of year, when I see that strong winds and freak cold snaps are beginning the process of deforestation of what was once the most bountiful land on earth, where endless hardwood forests and abundant water created what my ancestors viewed almost as a new Eden, and when I see the increasingly violent storms, tornadoes and such devastating our communities and countryside, the sense of horror I feel about what we have wrought is quite real and growing.  I grew up during the Cold War fearing that nuclear cataclysm would unmake the world.  Now we face a less immediate threat, but one with no less devastating an outcome in the end and perhaps an even more devastating outcome.

Why we need any additional  headlines to motivate us to demand immediate and drastic action form our political leaders to halt and reverse the destruction of our atmosphere is beyond me.  No scientific studies are required.  All one need do is look outside and the evidence that something is clearly amiss in our environment is as plain as day---every day.

I cannot imagine a bigger sin or a more hideous crime against humanity than that which we all are currently participating in which is pushing our planet's atmosphere so out of balance that we may push it past the point of no return.  How could any moral people stand by doing nothing, allowing apathy denial to destroy the planet that is the source and security of all life as we know it?  How could any sentient being with a sense of self preservation stand by and doing nothing to prevent this very preventable disaster?

What alarms and disturbs me most is not the facts we know about global warming and it's effects.  By far the most alarming thing is that as a civilization we are doing so little about it when we already clearly understand that inaction equals disaster and potentially doom for humanity.  The situation is truly insane.

I know they have position papers on this but I simply don't hear our candidates for President discussing global warming/climate change with the sort of urgency it clearly demands.  With each passing day more reports are in the news indicating that the process of global ice melting is much more rapid than previously believed and the accumulation of carbon dioxide is accelerating even more than estimated which means we have less time than we thought before things go too far.  Perhaps things have already gone too far?  It is impossible to know and it is inexcusable to do nothing while any chance remains.  I could be wrong, yet I cannot help but to think that there is no action too drastic at this point that would be more of a risk than our continued inaction which threatens not our lives, but the lives of our children and of posterity which is literally all the children to come.  It is appalling to contemplate it.

I am unconvinced that any of our national leaders, except Al Gore, actually appreciate the enormity of what is taking place and how little time we have to begin the work of saving our home and thus the home of all those to come after us.  Have we completely lost our minds and our sense of obligation to the future? 

Perhaps I am the only one who thinks this way, but when I see the shocking changes in our weather I can think of nothing else but the effect this is going to have on my children and grandchildren and how there isn't any chance at all that it will be anything but bad.  I think to myself, "how can I look my son in the eye and tell him I'm sorry I was too busy to save your world."  We simply must make it our business to stop and reverse the destruction of this incredibly beautiful and valuable planet and we must do whatever it takes to do so.   As reports make clear on a daily basis there is simply no time to lose. 

Some might poo-poo this sort of reaction to the reports that we've done far more damage than previously believed.  But what is the downside of over-reacting compared to the downside of not doing enough?  The only downside to over-reacting to this greatest crisis ever to face humanity is a cleaner and healthier planet for generations to come.   So I think it's time to get moving on this problem and not to be moderate in our approach.   And what if those who counsel a take it slow, moderate approach to address this crisis are wrong?  What is the downside of not acting as quickly and forcefully as necessary?  If we err on the side of moderation, move too slowly, protect the wealthy and their profits too much and end up killing off humanity, it seems like a pretty bad trade off to me. 

All other issues are academic if we screw this one up folks.  We must act now.  We cannot wait.  Individual actions are nice, but an organized, collective, international, government led effort will be required.  If we don't demand that our leaders take such action immediately, I'm convinced it will not happen.  So demand action now, before it is too late.