Priorities

Today is the day when the character of Marty McFly arrived in the future in his souped-up DeLorean.  We had a glimpse of gadgets and events that the film makers thought might be available - some of which actually were realized.

However one thing that forward-looking film makers and scientists frequently agreed upon was potential climate disaster and a resulting dystopia.  The fact is that the global climate disruption might very well turn this planet into a whole other ecology within a century.  This is not fear-mongering, it's a scientific possibility.

People will starve.  Water will become the most valuable of all resources.  Diseases will spread.  Millions will become refugees. Horrible wars will break out.  Species will go extinct.  Rhinos and elephants, pandas and gorillas, and millions of other species as well.

The oceans will become so carbonated that they will lose their ability to support life; possibly only jellyfish will survive.  The Amazon, one of the primary sources of oxygen for the planet could become a desert if the clear cutting and slash-and-burn agricultural practises continue.

Some humans might survive: the one percent who own half the planet's wealth have already built their secret sanctuaries.  But what about the rest of us?

Meanwhile, we have the resources to make a difference.  We have the science, we have the technology.  We can draw power from the sun, from the wind, from ocean waves, from geothermal vents, from biofuels.  We can see the possibilities, and that gives us a choice in the matter.
All we need is the political will to address the real issues in front of us.  We can become the species that is responsible enough to learn how to live in harmony with its own ecology.

Meanwhile, some people are still arguing about little chrome trophies or what they stand to lose in taxes.

Get your priorities straight, people!