The Warming of the Globe

Our generation is undergoing many changes which could have dire consequences for us in the future. The war, the economy, foreign affairs and education are all issues which should come to mind However an issue that always seems to get the short end of the stick is global warming. Sure everyone's heard of it and a little known politician released a documentary on the matter, but the issue still doesn't get nearly as much attention as issues like social security or foreign affairs. How is it that something that something which could potentially ruin our environment as we know it get so little airplay? Perhaps politicians have become so selfish that they no longer worry about our future or our children's future, and would rather let future generations deal with the repercussions.

Although I would label myself as a liberal, global warming should not be looked upon as a partisan issue. The presidential and vice presidential debates, as well as their respective websites have given me insight on what our potential leaders have planned and our future looks like a tossup. Surprisingly both Mccain and Obama plan to implement plans that would "punish" those who emit large levels of pollution while providing incentives for those who reduce emissions. Its a plausible solution that could lead to great reductions in our greenhouse emissions over the years. I am troubled however by comments made by Sarah Palin. Twice Palin has stated she doesn't care about whats causing the problem, she just wants to solve it. That's just ridiculous! Could you imagine walking into a doctors office with an ailment and not even being told what's wrong with you, he just give you some pills and a band-aid and hope for the best. They say don't fix what's not broken, our environment is broken and we need to address the cause in order to fix it.

There are many who have chosen to acknowledge global warming as a real existing issue that could have dire consequences. However there are many who choose to ignore it, joke about it or believe it's not real. There are many good arguments for the side against global warming. It's not the first time in our history that greenhouse emission levels have been so high so maybe scientists really are blowing things out of proportion. However, I would rather play things safe than sorry. Why gamble with something that has the potential to wipe out polar bears, produce extreme weather and melt our polar ice caps? That's only a short list of what could be ahead of us and hopefully politicians will soon begin to acknowledge the issue at hand. Even cartoons like Captain Planet have acknowledged the problem, there's no reason they should be making more sense than our potential leaders.