"Global Warming" is one of those knee-jerk topics of discussion where people tend to either scoff at it, or pledge allegiance to it (or if not to it, exactly, then to its eradication)?  But what is the truth? Al Gore did a spiffy book and video that was quite convincing, showing that it is real, this alleged Global Warming, whereas thriller writer Michael Crichton spewed forth an equally spiffy book convincing us that it is all a hoax, or at the very least just one of the Planet Earth's time-after-time cycles in world without end, and nothing much to worry about. But what is the truth?

    Everyone should be able to agree that the world, this blue planet, Earth, is a complex sphere of dependencies and links, support systems that balance other support systems, and that when you tweak one little system over here, you really do affect several other systems, some of them not so little, over here and right over there and there. We can all agree on that, can't we?

    Think about something not quite so complicated. How about the high-tech engine of a spanking new Ferrari sports car? That really ain't as complicated as a whole ecosphere, is it? It is easy enough to grasp that maintaining the proper level of oil in the crankcase really does affect, in a long-term way (and if you don't do it right, or don't employ the proper oil, in a very short-term way, and if you run the engine at high speed long enough without oil, your brand spanking new Ferrari will become nothing more useful than an ashtray). If you were given, as a gift, a Ferrari, would you treat it right? Most people would, if only so that they could turn around and sell the beast and possibly feed for a week a third-world country.

    Or your own body. It is not so complicated, is it? Just feed it, wash it, cut its hair, maybe walk around a bit, and no problems, right? Yet, you do know, at a very deep level, that if you don't eat good food and get exercise you are looking at very real problems, and those very real problems very quickly set off whole new problems in other areas. If you put on weight very fast, you will learn about depression, and if you become very depressed, you do know that this affects your whole life, in every aspect. It is real. Treat your body good, and your body will treat you well -- except, of course, that we do live in a very polluted world that negatively affects our very real physical body.

    We know we ought to treat a brand spanking new Ferrari right, because it costs a lot of money. It ensures prestige and a fast ride. We know we ought treat our body in a positive way because our body affects every aspect of our life, doesn't it?

    The term "Global Warming" is a misnomer. It is not a good name for what is happening to our Earth right now. Everyone knows this. Most scientists agree that it is a simplistic term that they didn't invent. The brilliant folks down at your Tee Vee World came up with it, and pound it relentlessly in all media. "Global Warming," "Global Warming," "Global Warming" -- we hear it every day, and we have heard it every day for several years now. And people knee-jerk react to it either by speaking in hallowed tones, or laughing at it.

    "Global Fever" would probably be a better descriptive term. You have probably experienced a fever, and you have probably wondered at the phenomenon of your body apparently BEing so very hot, and yet you feel nothing but cold, shivers and quivers and goose flesh oh my. And that fever is usually just a symptom of the trouble, I mean we don't usually just get a fever, there is always a reason behind the fever. But the fever itself can set off all manner of problems in the human body. As the body heat rises (and you feel colder and colder) your systems can start shutting down. You don't see so well. You hear things that aren't there. Your mind begins playing tricks. And you are in a lot of trouble.

    This fever that our body suffers through -- it generally is some little thing like eating the wrong thing at dinner. We call it food poisoning. It happens when something is left out a tad too long and a lot of microbes set up camp and go out and explore and conquer and establish new colonies (of course, many people living today believe that microbes are a hoax, completely imaginary, these wee pioneers -- I mean, you can't see them, can you? Maybe they are not really there at all), and our body reacts to those pesky microbes and begins to fight back, marshaling its forces, our white cells leap into duty, and we experience a fever as the battle rages.

    We know that nuclear wastes have been dumped into the oceans. We know that many nuclear weapons have been discharged. We know that mountains have been mined with cyanide. Rivers have died. Daily big-city life has added palpable clouds to the skies, clouds that make you cough and hack up half a lung, we loosely call it "pollution" and give it no more thought. We know all this, that it is happening, and has been happening for the past sixty years and more. We know that honeybees are reacting poorly to cell phone technology, and that honeybees are crucial in pollinating crops. We know all this.

    Our lifestyles, our technologies, they are poisoning the Earth. This should be no great no-duh revelation. And the Earth, as strong as she is, she's getting sicker, and sicker. 

    We know all this, don't we? Or maybe man hasn't really walked on the moon (silly Hollywood). Maybe the Earth is flat (it makes  a better map). Maybe everything works itself out. Maybe there is no problem. Maybe "The Secret" is real and the universal genie will just fix things if we expect it to happen. Positive Attraction, yeah, it's real all right.

    You know the truth, deep down.

    But so many of us can't accept the notion that the planet is sick. That it has been poisoned by humans. That it is being poisoned today. It is much easier to accept "The Secret" and be the life of the party.

    People love to mention the "butterfly effect," that a butterfly wagging its wings can cause a typhoon on that proverbial other side of the world. We all love to say it, those magical words: "The Butterfly Effect." Doesn't it make us feel smart? Like we are IN? That we are cool?

    Forget the butterfly. What about a nuclear explosion that wipes out an entire city? Similar explosions set off under ground, over the ocean, in the desert. Maybe, we comfort ourselves, this butterfly effect works in reverse, that a nuclear bomb set off in Arizona causes a butterfly to flap its wings in China. That is a much prettier metaphor.

    But it is more than a metaphor.

    Make the connection. It ain't a big leap to make.

    That itsy bitsy sensation, along the top of your head? That ain't butterflies landing, waving their wings. That is the feeling of brain cells kicking into life, firing up, roaring.

    Feel the roar.

when papa was a little boy

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    And then do it some more. It is addictive. Thinking. Try it.