Global Warming

[Mighty Jalapeno]

I think of the climate change currently sweeping BC, Canada.

For those of you who don't know, BC is currently infested with mountain pine beetles. Now, when I say BC, I mean... most of the province. Several hundred thousand square kilometers (it's like a square mile, but smaller). In some areas, there are so many beetles that if you stand very, very still in the woods, and listen, you can:

a) actually hear the sounds of chewing, because 10,000 beetles chewing actually makes some noise, and

b) watch sawdust fall like snow.

I have experienced both of these things. Now, people around here are saying "ECOLOGICAL DOOM! END OF THE WORLD!!!!" Forestry is a HEEE-YUUUGE part of the economy here, and beetle-kill trees can't be harvested, really. However, if you talk to anybody from the Ministry of Forests who has a degree, know what they'll say?

"Yup, we know. It's a climate shift, we've known since the 80's. Soon this will all be grasslands. It happens every few thousand years."

They've known. They've known for a LONG time, and it's a natural occurrence. However, that same ministry (now people with marketing and business degrees) are blaming global warming for the eventual death of BC industry, and raising as much panic as they can.

So you know what global warming makes me think of? The greatest scapegoat of all time.