Take a minute to skim through this one, too.
http://www.pbs.org/now/science/climatechange.html
Why, when we know what dangers global warming brings, do we sit in our chairs as Americans and do nothing? The last article, I quote, "1997: In December, 1997, more than 160 nations met in Kyoto, Japan, to negotiate binding limitations on greenhouse gases for the developed nations, pursuant to the objectives of the Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992. The outcome of the meeting was the Kyoto Protocol, in which the developed nations agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, relative to the levels emitted in 1990. The United States agreed to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by 7 percent during the period 2008 to 2012.
Also that year, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Hagel-Byrd Resolution notifying the Clinton Administration that the Senate would not ratify any treaty that would (a) impose mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions for the United States without also imposing such reductions for developing nations, or (b) result in serious harm to our economy." (PBS news article)
This is important. President Clinton worked on the Kyoto Protocol and had full intention of passing it through Congress so the United States could stop being one of the leaders in atmosphere destruction. But our Congress said no, because of MONEY. That's what it can be summed up as.
Do you know how much it will cost if we don't do something? Not just money. Lives. We started a war in Iraq because lives were taken. We can't retaliate against mother nature for killing people. What are we going to do then? Wouldn't it be murder if we don't do something now? We have a duty not just to ourselves but to everyone in our nation. We have become such a self-centered nation that all we care about is our own wealth. Yes, there is such thing as the pursuit of happiness. But another basic principle is life, which means every person is entitled to have their own life and the access to every moral and principle our country offers. When we make decisions in the government, we need to do it not for ourselves but for our country. Why would we support these ludacris ideas that we are not hurting our earth and our money is more important?
We have the chance, now, to stop global warming from getting much worse. We need to stop sitting around thinking, "It won't affect my life, what do I care?" because the people who founded this country did it while thinking ahead. We wouldn't have anything without the sacrifices they made. Let's be thankful for our freedom, and protect the freedom of the children we have and will have.
Imagine this. Year 2150, and your great-granddaughter is dying from a disease we haven't even heard of yet. She's only 14, and there's nothing anyone can do to help her. She's in more pain than a human should ever have to feel. Lying in a hospital bed, although it hasn't been cleaned in weeks because there are so many patients dying all over the world. She looks at her mother, and reaches for her mother's hand.
Her mother hasn't stopped crying for the last few hours, she knows her daughter won't last long. Her flesh and blood, and there is nothing at all she can do to save her. She is helpless. She rises in anger and moves through the maze of hospital beds and dying people to reach the window. She looks outside and sees the flooding and the devastation of the land. And she wonders why her family didn't take care of her, why decisions weren't made. She wonders why they were so cold, and couldn't love her. They may not have known her when they made decisions, but she can't understand why they had only been thinking about themselves.
Her husband is dead. Her son is dead. Her parents are dead. She has nothing left but her daughter, who is about to die.
She feels as if she is dead.
Contempt for the people who put her in this situation rises in her throat, and her body reacts to the emotion as if she had just swallowed poison. Her fists clench, and she...
(TO BE CONTINUED)