KaiserJeep wrote:The idea that anything that humans do is "killing the Earth" is absurb. We are as much a part of the ecology as any other species. If collectively we have an impact that is visible from space, who are we to be so presumptuous as to call it unnatural, or a departure from Nature?
I agree with you that topics about "killing the Planet" are over the top. However, the hyperventilating titles for topics is a big part of the fun of posting at this site. Who wants to post in topics with boring topics like "Tourists are slightly contributing to global warming."
And as far as your concern about calling global warming "unnatural." Yes, of course it isn't supernatural. The global warming we are living with is most definitely anthropogenic, i.e. human caused. The point is the planet wouldn't be seeing the current warming if not for the use of fossil fuels by billions and billions of humans. Of course there are a few people out there who say they care so deeply about the planet that they have decided to stay at home and never leave so as to minimize their impact on the earth.
And that reminds me of a story. I was doing scientific work down in Lake Clark National Park here in Alaska a few years back, and one of the Rangers flew me out in a NPS floatplane to this incredibly beautiful spot where a hermit had built a log cabin before the national park was established and had lived there in splendid isolation for decades, never leaving home and never emitting any CO2. We tied the floatplane up to the shore and I did my science thing and when I completed the sampling I needed to do we hiked over to visit with the famous hermit, Dick. He's dead now, but he had a one room log cabin chinked with moss, and had built himself a table and a chair and such. He survived mainly by picking berries and catching grayling and salmon. Sounds great but after 20 years a pretty monotonous diet. My friend the NP guide told me how ascetic and environmentally sensitive the hermit was, but when the NP guide went outside for a bit, I brought out my lunch and shared it with the hermit. I gave him an orange---he was over the moon with happiness. And when I gave him some gummy bears----we were friends forever.
I can't even imagine how much CO2 was expanded in growing that orange in California and then shipping it to Alaska, and then I used a car to go the store to buy it, and then I packed it along on several airline flights to even get to Lake Clark Clark National Park, and then I brought it along on the float plane for the field work. But nonetheless, the hermit craved the orange. My point is that even most the most isolated hermit in the most remote place in the world---even a man who never ever leaves home----wants an orange when he sees it. And if Dick the hermit in Alaska has a carbon footprint----then EVERYONE HAS A CARBON FOOTPRINT.
Dick the hermit and his cabin at Twin Lakes, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska The Park Service turned his cabin into a remote ranger station after he died.
Cheers!