An Inconvenient Truth and the Desert Tortoise

In the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore presents his audience with a chart that shows the relationship between CO2 levels and atmospheric temperature through history. As CO2 levels increase, temperature increases. Now, due to all the ways we've managed to pollute our atmosphere, the CO2 levels are higher than ever before and increasing at a faster rate. His graph extended many years into the future to show the results we'd have if we stayed on the same pace and didn't implement procedures for decreasing those CO2 levels. He never labeled the corresponding temperature, I don't know why, but I would say that it was high enough that humans would not be capable of living. There is merit in this information, otherwise he and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change never would have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their research. That documentary has helped shape the way we think. People are taking measures to "go green," companies are reformulating their products to be more environmentally friendly, we are all working diligently to obtain our energy from renewable resources, et cetra, et cetra. All things we SHOULD have been concerned with long before we were faced with the problem we have today.

This leads me to a rather promising, yet quite disturbing, article I read. Dozens of companies, from Goldman Sachs to small Silicon Valley startups, are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to apply to the US Bureau of Land Management for leases on land in the Mojave Desert. Why would companies pay a minimum of $100,000 in application fees alone for land in the Mojave, you ask? Because a land that has been all but barren is now the perfect place to erect solar panels to collect that good 'ol renewable energy from the sun that the good God gave us. There are 3.5 million acres of the Mojave Desert that people are interested in for their solar companies. To put it all into perspective, 1 million acres can produce 66 gigawatts of electricity each year; the entire state of California currently consumes 33 gigawatts of electricity annually. And the largest solar power plant in operation today produces a meager 15 megawatts annually (that's mega, not giga; a megawatt is 1/1000 of a gigawatt). It's about freakin' time, right!?

But there's a catch...there's always a catch. 80% of that land has been designated as federally protected wilderness or wildlife species habitat. That leaves only 700,000 acres to be used. Land leases are already being denied because they lie in areas protected as habitat for the desert tortoise. I want to preface my opinion with the fact that I am all about preserving wildlife. When God created the universe and everything that goes along with it He gave humans dominion over the earth and all its inhabitants. That means that we are in charge of ensuring its health and prosperity, that is, of the earth, all living creatures and all human beings. Animals are living creatures that deserve our respect and care. The preservation of each species is vital, not only to the species itself, but to the ecosystem it is a part of; extinction could result in any number of minimal to vast consequences. But it is also our duty as human beings to preserve the earth and the human race so future generations can not only exist, but thrive.

There comes a time when we must weigh the importance of issues and prioritize. We must do what we can, while we can, to preserve the earth so we can have a tomorrow. Is it wise to place the needs and future existence of an animal above that of humans? Afterall, without a habitable earth, there will not be a place for the desert tortoise to live anyway.

Promise Rings

I thought it fitting that my first post have to do with what initially inspired me to post a comment in a forum. Earlier this month, the host at the 2008 Mtv VMAs, Russell Brand, bashed our country and our citizens, among many other things, and the buzz the next day focused on his attacks of the Jonas Brothers for wearing promise rings and Jordin Sparks' reaction to it, but somehow no one was upset with Russell Brand. I was appalled by many things that were said that night and many things that were said the next day; I will explore two areas of my disgust. First, who does Russell Brand think he is getting up on an American stage and bashing our country, our President, our citizens, our role models, our Vice Presidential candidates, et cetra, et cetra...and he isn't even an American. He is fortunate that he chose to pull those stunts in a country where we have freedom of speech; a place where speaking your mind is not only okay, but encouraged. But he was so utterly disrespectful that I couldn't even listen to him anymore! What would make a person think that it is acceptable to be invited to host an event in a country that is foreign to you, then proceed to use that platform to talk about what an awful place you think it is and what awful people we have here? If that is the way he feels, he should just stay home. Secondly, the whole promise ring ordeal. All the talk show and news hosts, or whatever other names they may go by, are making the concept of a promise ring out to be a bad thing. It is a beautiful thing that some people choose to remain abstinent until marriage and it is an even more beautiful thing that people like the Jonas Brothers and Jordin Sparks are coming out and telling the world that they are choosing abstinence. They are role models for millions of young Americans and it is about time that they have a positive image to look up to in the media. And somehow, nobody can think of anything good to say about that; they are all treating them as if they have committed some sort of crime. About Jordin Sparks' reaction to Russell Brand's comments: she wasn't very tactful, I agree, but she was offended and she stood up for what she believed in. She spoke her mind...she has freedom of speech just like Russell Brand and the rest of us, but they are killing her in the media for it. So, let me take this last moment to rewrite a piece of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as I believe the media would see fit: Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, UNLESS you want to wait until marriage to have sex.

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1593808&vid=272743 (Russell Brand)

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1593808&vid=272768 (Jordin Sparks)

(Evidently, Mtv didn't like all the positive comments people were leaving about Jordin Sparks in response to this video because they have all been erased)