http://www.californiaaggie.com/article/?id=11852Give thanks for global warmingBy JOSH DIEDESCH
Posted 11/22/2005
Perhaps you have heard the theory that the average global temperature is rising due to human activities like driving cars and using hairspray. You have probably heard all about how carbon dioxide is released when humans burn hydrocarbons, or when blowhards like Al Gore and Bill O’Reilly speak. This carbon dioxide, as you have probably heard, causes a greenhouse effect whereby the global average temperature rises.
You have probably also heard about how it is all Americans’ fault because America consumes a bazillion times more oil than it produces. Or it is America’s fault because it generates a gajillion times more carbon dioxide than any other country.
In short, you have probably heard all of the alleged bad things about modern life and how it floods island nations and kills polar bears.
But what about the benefits — the vast improvement in quality of life and longer lifespan — made possible by burning hydrocarbons?
Consider, for instance, the present state of agriculture compared to what your grandparents had. In 1930, one farm worker fed approximately 10 people. Today, that ratio is well above 75. How did this happen? Why do you think it is possible to visit your local supermarket and find thousands of food products on the shelves, including dozens of fresh vegetables? How do all those products get there?
All sorts of fertilizers and chemicals rely on petroleum, not to mention farm tractors and implements that burn petroleum products. These products make it possible for you to sit in class doing crosswords, bemoaning rising tuition, instead of working in the fields with a primary school education (if you are lucky).
What about those “evil” automobiles that spew “greenhouse gases” and are “destroying the world”? That automobile you drive makes it possible for you to drive to Berkeley for the week’s Greenpeace protest and still make it back in time to study for your Intro to Junk Science midterm.
And yes, your car’s carbon dioxide is the same as my car’s carbon dioxide, even if the protest is against bioengineered foods that reduce the need for petroleum-based chemicals.
Petroleum also makes long-distance travel easier than anyone could have imagined a century ago. Today you can hop in your Prius and head to the San Francisco International Airport, board a flight to France and be sipping champagne in Paris within about 15 hours. A century ago that same trip took weeks, perhaps months, on trains and ships.
Don’t forget about all those electricity-generating power plants pouring carbon dioxide into the air and toxic waste into the water, allegedly killing all sorts of defenseless sentient animals. Yes, electricity is evil.
Electricity powers your refrigerator and freezer so that you can preserve your hummus and tofu at an appropriate temperature and powers air conditioners so you don’t melt in the summer. Gas and electricity sustain heaters so you don’t freeze in the winter. Telephones, TVs, toasters, computers, microwave ovens and a host of other wonderfully convenient items also run on electricity. Even the necessities of your life like the lights in your home require electricity. Have you ever tried studying by candlelight?
So on Thanksgiving, don’t feel guilty about how much America consumes and the abundance we enjoy relative to the rest of the world — it has been earned. Instead, celebrate the brilliance of human ingenuity and the ever-improving quality of life made possible by free people (and hydrocarbons).
JOSH DIEDESCH can be reached at jjdiedesch@ucdavis.edu.