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City of Venice with it's flooding
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It was an ordinary day. Reading more and more stuff about global warming and realizing that if you don't believe that global warming is one of the most important problems in our lifetime, you must be living in a vacuum. I have believed for many years that we have been polluting our air with all the cars, trucks and buses that are on the roadway. In 2007 it really got me thinking when, while visiting the island of Venice, Italy and while talking to one of the tour guides, she told me that most of the people who live on Venice own a pair of high-topped boots. After questioning her about why, she responded by telling me that often the high tides will flood some of the streets on the island. Also told me that it wasn't that way 25 to 30 years ago. She truly believes that the melting of the ice in Antarctica will eventually lead to the destruction of Venice, Italy. Wow!! More and more I find myself thinking about what she shared or should I say warned me about and then recently I read about the predictions for our planet if we don't stop the harmful emissions we are emitting into the air. By the year 2100 our sea levels could rise between three to six FEET because of Antarctica's rapid ice melt. I realize that quite a few of us won't be here at that time, but that's not a reason to not be concerned for future generations. Antarctica's ice cap holds 70% of the freshwater on the Earth and if it totally melts the oceans could rise 187 feet, decimating entire island nations. Now I know these are only numbers, but it has to make you think. Poor Venice would be gone! In 1900 Piazza San Marco, Venice's central square, flooded seven times while in 2002, eleven years ago, the number jumped to 108. No wonder the citizens of this historic island all have boots! I also read that floodgates are scheduled to be built around the city, but they're not scheduled to begin until 2015. I also read a prediction that in 2040 we could see the soil conditions in the world's most prestigious wine regions from Bordeaux, France to Napa Valley, California change because of the rising temperatures in our world. If the average temperature jumps two degrees in the next 30 years, the change in the soil conditions would change the balance of sweetness and acidity crucial to good wine. In 2030 55% or the Amazon's 1.4 billion acres of rain forests could be gone and with it the 140 billion metric tons of carbon which help stabilize the global climate. Not only that, but the increased carbon dioxide emissions we are polluting the earth with is causing glaciers in the Alps to melt rapidly and they too could be gone as early as 2030. Within 7 years the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, which is the world's largest and most diverse reef system, is in danger of becoming extinct if we don't reduce the global CO2 emissions by at least 25%. I know some people don't believe any of this, but it is true! How many of you have bought a CO2 alarm for your home to check for too high an emission discharge in your home. Did you ever hear of these alarms 25 years ago? I keep thinking that I have to get a car soon that will stop putting so much pollution into the air. We all need to stop polluting our environment. Someday soon you may become more aware of it, if you aren't right now, and we all have to hope it's not too late!! I keep thinking of that girl in Venice who was so nice to me and hope she will live to see her island saved from destruction. It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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