A Thank You and a rant.

First, I want to say a big thank you to Wyatt Earp. He has been a wonderful blog friend for well over two years now (I can't believe it has been that long) and has been supportive through the year of 2009. He is a funny, witty, and all around nice guy. He is a loving husband and father, dedicated Philadelphia police detective, avid hockey player, and has a strange obsession with Jessica Biel. He linked me yesterday and it is only right that I do likewise. As I said, he is a good guy. Go check him out.

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As for the rant. Many people think that because of how we choose to live that we believe global warming to be real. I am a "global warming denier." Apparently, because of this, I am either mentally defective (hush, you!) or I have a financial or political interest in the way things currently are or my religion prevents me from believing. None of the above is true. I am not mentally defective (at least none that can be proved heh-heh) nor do I have any kind of political or financial interest in the way things are and my religion most certainly does not prevent me from believing or not believing in global warming.

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I have talked about global warming here before and my views on it. Yes, there is certain data that suggest the earth is warming up, but there is also plenty of data to show just the opposite. Some of the arguments against global warming (and even proving global cooling) are classified as "silly." Really? So evidence to prove what you want is ok, while any evidence to the contrary is "silly."

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I have seen global warming blamed on everything from acne to oceans rising to oceans falling (which is it?) to ice caps growing to ice caps shrinking (which is it?) to increased salination to decreased salination (which is it?) to rapes to murder to earthquakes to a woman's menstrual cramps. (My current cramps have nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with the uterine lining being shredded and expelled through my vagina.)

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I had posted a link in my livejournal blog about how global warming has been blamed for everything. While I am not going to dig that up, I do have another link here with a list just as long of things blamed on global warming.

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So, to go over this one more time, why do we live as we do if we don't believe in global warming? Why am I intent on reading the electric meter each week? Why are we striving for self-sufficiency? Why would I love to live off the grid? Why do I watch our gas usage or money spent?

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Simply put, because we as humans are consumeristic. Gas prices are going up again and I don't think they will free fall like they did before. So I try to make the most of trips and try to get decent mpg with what we have.

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Electricity is expensive. People in this country use a lot more electricity than is necessary. While I am a global warming denier, I do not deny the need for conservation. Also, if we were to ever go off the grid, I would need to know how much we as a family use to be able to provide the right amount of alternative energy for our consumption. The less used, the better.

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We recycle because it is the right thing to do. Pollution is a real problem. trash on the sides of the road, in the farm fields, finding it in our hay bales, overly full landfills, all make for a real need to recycle.

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I want us to be responsible for what we use and take responsibility for our usage. Not just in paying the electric bill each month, but being able to provide it ourselves eventually. I want us to have to think about the stuff we use and not just toss it in the trash without thinking about it.

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I want us to be responsible, thoughtful consumers and know that we do have an impact on our local environment and we don't have to believe in the global warming hysteria to want to do that.