Why, I ask myself, are the Europeans so worried about global warming, and we're not. It this a capitalist/socialist divide? A cultural thing? What's going on? And then, I read an article which included the following sentence:
"[The report on global warming] warned of 'climatic tipping points' such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down."
See, that's why the Europeans care so much. Ever looked at a map of Europe? It's at the same latitude as mid-northern Canada. No lie. The only thing that keeps Europe warm is, well, Florida. Okay, it's the Gulf Stream (discovered, btw, by good ol' Ben Franklin), which keeps the North Atlantic warm. Absent the Gulf Streem, the Eiffel Tower's surrounded by nothing but ice.
There's a real reason to fight global warming--to preserve Paris as a place for pretentious and disgruntled Americans (like myself) to flee. I'm sure Phoebe would agree that the loss of French men would make this Earth not worth inhabiting...
A fact that made an impression on me in grammar school geography: Boston and Rome are on the same latitude. And the first time I went to Rome, I was amazed to see palm trees planted around embassies, hotels, etc. Now I live where palms are native, though if global warming continues, they (and everything else) will be underwater. Bush and Co. don't care because they can always go to "their mountain place." Just like they don't care about Social Security. They are doing just fine without it, thank you. --JM
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