Before the Flood: NatGeo & Leo DiCaprio’s Climate Change Documentary – A Must Watch

As morbid and disturbing as Hieronymous Bosch’s 1500 3-paneled painting called “The Garden Of Earthly Delights” is, it is a strangely accurate portrayal of what we humans have done to the Earth.  This would not have been my first choice as a mural to put in my child’s room, but Leonardo DiCaprio grew up looking at and examining the panels of this artwork. It begins with beauty and serenity, morphs into overpopulation and debauchery and ends in a hellish, burnt out post apocalyptic looking scene.

For most of us living here in the United States things, though politically tense, seem to be OK.  When you take a look at the world scene and examine the rain forests, oceans and ice caps you get a completely different picture.  The oceans and rain forests are our largest “sponges” when it comes to carbon dioxide.  The problem we have created is there is too much CO2 being produced too quickly for the planet to re-absorb it.  Plus, there are fewer trees because of rampant deforestation and the chemicals we are dumping in the oceans and the shifts in currents caused by the melting ice caps and warming atmosphere have decimated thousands of acres of coral reefs all over the world.

 

(Click to enlarge)

Source: eLocal.com

I appreciated that in the program they addressed the misconception that Global Warming means warmer temperatures for everyone.  In many parts of the Earth you will find higher than normal temperatures even to the point of becoming uninhabitable.  In areas where it is traditionally mild – like the UK – will find themselves with much colder temperatures and longer more harsh winters.

The documentary looked at the climate change deniers and then the evidence that they are choosing to ignore.  What you have to consider when looking at the impact humans have on the Earth is that in the last 150 to 200 years we have managed to deplete stores of fossil fuels that took millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of years to develop underground.  Think about that very carefully.  What took hundreds of millions of years to develop underground we humans have pumped back into the atmosphere in less that 200 years.

Our consumption of fossil fuels isn’t the only issue.  The foods we eat and how we choose to produce them are also having an impact.  Palm oil plantations in Indonesia and other parts of the South Pacific have destroyed ecosystems and pushed animals to extinction by deforestation and intentionally set forest fires (which pumps millions of tons of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere).  Why? Because the oil is cheap to produce.  So, oil producers, food producers and large conglomerates attached to them are getting rich not only at the expense of the forest but the people, animals and the health of the entire planet.  We have to remember that just like a smoker who sucks in tar laden smoke and ends up with emphysema the Earth is like a giant lung whose air is being constantly polluted by our bad habits.  The Earth is already showing signs of sickness and will continue to get sicker unless something is done.

Mr. DiCaprio expressed a  pessimism about the ability of humans to reverse the damage we’ve done to our home.  Not because of lack of trying or actual ability, but because of lack of education about the problem and will to take responsibility for our individual actions.  That is where I see the problem too.  I can’t say that I don’t contribute to pollution in my own small way, but I know my carbon footprint is tiny compared to many others.  My family would love to switch to solar power, but it’s availability and cost of entry is prohibitive for us.  If the technology were more readily available and less costly to implement we would be installing it ASAP.  Unfortunately, in this country the producers of fossil fuels hold us in their palm through lobbying and frankly bullying. They hate to hear what energy pioneers like Elon Musk of Tesla have to say – independence from fossil fuels is within our reach if we just put a little effort forth.

All of this made me think of scriptures I’ve heard all my life –

Jeremiah 10:23 I well know, O Jehovah, that man’s way does not belong to him.  It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.