Your Opinion: Save the earth: Get rid of man?

Dear Editor:

I see that climate change is once again a hot topic — those who believe and those who don’t.

For me the question is, “Is the current climate change that the earth is experiencing (there have been several) really caused by humans or is it part of the naturally occurring changes that the earth is constantly going through?”

Let’s just assume for the sake of argument that it is.

True there are more humans on the earth now than at any other time in history and we are all releasing CO2 into the atmosphere every time we breathe.

Since the Industrial Revolution began in the 1700s in Great Britain man has been using fossil fuels (oil, coal, wood) to power the factories that produced all the new innovations that man has invented.

All the homes that people live in were heated with wood, coal, peat and pretty much any thing else that could be burned to generate heat, all releasing C02.

Then electricity came into being. The power plants being fueled either by coal or water (hydro power) allowed for electricity to give man a whole new level of comforts, goods and services that we now pretty much take for granted.

I noticed in your letters to the editor that a couple of writers are really down on fossil fuel companies, one stating that they “have been allowed to use our atmosphere as a free dumping ground for CO2.”

All that CO2 in the atmosphere was not intentional. In the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, nobody knew.

So now you think that by taxing or shutting these companies down you can stop or at least control C02 emissions but what about you yourself. What are you willing to give up out of your everyday existence to cut back on C02 — your car, your heat source, electricity? Are you really willing to give up your creature comforts.

Developed countries such as the U.S. and developing countries such as China are the largest producers of C02. In the U.S., we do rely heavily on fossil fuels to produce our way of life. Hydro, atomic, wind and solar power are being developed but not without their drawbacks. The Chinese people are not about to cut back on their new found affluence to lessen C02 levels.

The only sure fire way to save the earth is to get rid of man. Mother Nature used to keep populations in check with disease, pestilence, war and natural disasters.

Man or earth. Any thoughts?