Pave the Rain Forest, Part 2

Here are a few suggestions that are supposed to "save the environment." Some are good, some are silly. I'm just amused at the arrogance that thinks our little actions affect the global climate.

• Plant trees. I like trees. Trees are always a good thing, right? Well, maybe not…
• Cut down trees. Some scientists recently advocated clearing northern forests which absorb heat that would otherwise be reflected by snow.
• Use less toilet paper. Thanks Sheryl Crow for making Rosie O'Donnell talk about using toilet paper. Like we needed that mental image.
• Don't mow your yard. I'm all over this one, except some experts say you should use an un-powered push mower. No thanks!
• Don't eat meat or animal products. Cows, I guess, are not low-emission and cow flatulence is supposedly a serious danger to the planet. But if God didn't want us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?
  
• Don't fly on airplanes or drive SUVs. Unless you're someone important, that is. The chosen ones can go ahead and use private jets and limousines while demanding that you ride a bicycle. Can you say double standards?
• Don't encourage third world development. Those folks are better off with their noble Stone Age lifestyle than our dirty, polluting Western ways.
  
• Don't have babies. Some scientists want families to be limited to two children or less. But the replacement rate is 2.1 children per woman. The U.S. is right at 2.1 but most European countries are shrinking away with only 1 or 1.5 children per woman while countries like Somalia, Yemen, and Afghanistan are producing 6+ children per woman. Nevertheless, Western babies supposedly count as worse because they will do more damage.
• Reduce your carbon footprint. CO2 is not quite the poison it's made out to be. More CO2 is good news for plant life; trees "breathe" it. CO2 is also not the greenhouse gas we need to be concerned about – water vapor traps many times more heat than CO2 ever will. And finally, mankind is not the largest producer of CO2. Animal life and volcanoes have produced much more.
• Vote for secular progressive socialists. They'll save the Earth! Or at least they'll tell you how to live your life until it gets saved… however long that takes.
  

I actually do several "green" things: I try to save energy, fuel, and water. I recycle. I conserve. I waste not and want not. But I do these things because I want to be responsible and save money. I don't want to leave a mess for someone else to clean up. Instead I want to exercise good stewardship of God's creation. It's the reasonable thing to do.