ISSUES:...Really, The Only Story That Matters...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas |...Climate change in this country is either a threatening pair of words or two to be laughed at, depending on how you feel about the planet's weather. They say it is getting hotter, only it has always been hot, at least for humans, since the end of the Ice Age, when the turtleneck was invented.

I dunno how I feel about this one as a national issue.

We're not burning anytime soon, although likely soon enough. The fearmongering is very much like fast-spreading neighborhood news of the occasional barren shelf at the grocery store. Some say that is a sign of the coming apocalypse. Weather where I live is subtropical.

It was 91 degrees today, here a week before winter's November. No climate change there, simply the historical climate of the region.

But of course, it's true that we should pay a bit more attention to what we as humans contribute to our climes. How many vehicles on Earth, most of the emitting carbon gases? Some four or five billion.

Plus, there is a whole cornucopia of other villains, from powerful, high-flying airliners, to huge sugar cane field burnings, to electricity-supplying power stations to - how many? - BBQ grills across the country, especially Texas.

Scientists and climate-conscious people can list you many, many more villains, but you get my drift. Horrible national politics and worse-than that politicians come and go.

Same went for the gas-guzzling V-8 cars of the 1960s.

Our fragile weather, however, isn't something to control. It'll kick our ass one of these days, perhaps forever...

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