A Yearning For The Hearth

Do you believe in global warming?

Note the phrasing. It’s not something you think is true or untrue. It’s something you believe or don’t believe. It’s a matter of faith and creed. It’s one pillar in the new orthodoxies that govern our civilization. To deny it is to be labeled at the least a fool, who stubbornly denies the obvious truth, or just as likely a malevolent tool of the corporate machine that is destroying life on earth.

“The greatest threat we have ever known.” This all-to-common refrain and other like it have become so common they barely register when spoken. Not an eyebrow is lifted. The rhetoric of modern environmentalism has morphed into something resembling that of an apocalyptic cult. The Jack Van Impes of the environmental movement now toe the standard line.

Hyperbole is impossible. There’s no way of speaking about the dangers of global warming which will be interpreted as an exaggeration. To the contrary, whoever speaks in the most most extreme terms will be seen as most reasonable and responsible.

Is this not a sign that things have veered off course? None of us, on our own is capable of registering the small, incremental increases that are being described, much less predicting the outcome as it plays out in a biosphere much more complex than we understand. Rather, our information is brought to us from scientists via an inflammatory media, whose existence depends on keeping us watching and interested.

What of global warming then? Is it real? Maybe. Probably. What does it mean? That’s a bigger question. It might mean cutting back on our decadence to some extent, if the recession doesn’t do that for us. It might be beyond our ability to change much. It may cause problems, or it may not. We don’t know. Caution and cautious language should be the name of the game. Let’s give it a try.