Mike Thomas, an Orlando Sentinel columnist, has had a special place in our hearts ever since he interviewed Heather for a magazine article about her summer camp experiences. That I often disagree with his opinions in no way keeps me from appreciating his intelligence and writing skills.
His recent column, The Sea Is Coming, makes the excellent point that, whatever we do or don't do about global warming, or global cooling, we in Florida are fighting a losing battle against natural forces. Florida's coastline comes and goes, advances and retreats, and the worst thing we can do is to cover it with lots of big, expensive buildings. The second worst is to encourage that overgrowth, as we do, with government-subsidized property insurance—considered necessary because real insurance companies know how foolish it is to build one's house upon the sand while standing in a hurricane's path.Mike also takes the time to explain to younger generations why some of us older folks refuse to take too seriously all the global warming hysteria. We've lived long enough to see theories come and theories go, and hear the cry of "Wolf! Wolf!" once too often. That doesn't stop me from being in favor of fuel-efficient cars, public transit, and non-motorized transportation, along with recyling, sustainable agriculture, water conservation, and other ways to make our envionmental impact more beneficial than harmful. But my opinions and actions in these matters are more in spite of the hype than because of it.
[I]n 1975, Newsweek ran a story warning climate change could cause famines and political unrest. This was based on growing scientific evidence Earth was cooling. There even was a proposal to keep the polar ice cap from expanding by covering it with black soot.
Mike's article was on my "possible blog fodder" list for a while, but Mallard Fillmore's comic of yesterday pushed it to the top of the list.
