Once again they have been sitting up nights thinking of new ways of being stupid. I just don’t understand how the same human race which has come up with some incredible stuff over the years can yet come up with something so bewilderingly stupid as the CCS plan – Carbon Capture and Storage (or Sequestration) as an antidote to the ravages of global warming. They tell me it will cost about $45 trillion to pay for it – I presume that tab will be covered from the Government’s current account surplus?
I read with growing disbelief that they are actually discussing gathering up CO2, compressing it into liquid, and burying it in huge tanks in the ground, where it will be monitored for the next 10,000 years to prevent any toxic leaks. Is this a joke? Did I miss the laugh line? Is it a satire, something like Jonathan Swift’s Modest Proposal (to eat the surplus children of poverty as a delicacy for the rich man’s table)?
And here I thought everyone knew the obvious solution to the build-up of CO2 – it is to plant trees all over the earth, so that they will sequester the carbon in a natural and even useful way.
While we are planting millions of acres of trees all over the earth, to sequester carbon, to stop soil erosion, to prevent seasonal flooding and drought, to shelter the earth below so that other plants, animals, and people can live a better life under their protection, why don’t we plant tree crops – food trees – so that, in addition to all of the other benefits of the trees, we can put an end to world hunger and reverse the tide of disease that comes from eating excess meat and processed foods?
I want to plant endless plantations of fruit and nut trees – English walnuts, mangoes, cacao for chocolate, apples, oranges, almonds, persimmons – yum! Even coffee trees! Hey, my information suggests that one or two cups of coffee (like one or two glasses of wine in the evening) will extend your life and improve your health; it is only in excess that is becomes a problem, exactly as is the case with alcohol, meat, salt, even sugar. While the trees are small, annual gardens of vegetables can be grown, or fiber crops such as hemp or kenaf for making paper – please: cutting down trees for pulp and paper is as barbaric as treating disease by bleeding the patient!
I don’t even have to insist upon a purely vegetarian diet. I read all kinds of health information from all sources, and my conclusion is that you can pretty much eat anything, as long as it is not in excess! The American breakfast of steak and eggs with sausage and ham is too much meat (not to mention the chemicals and preservatives, but that’s a separate issue). However, the Asian style of using small amounts of meat primarily as a flavoring to vegetables seems a bit less toxic to me. The large scale cultivation of animals for human consumption is a very expensive approach to human nutrition. The earth just isn’t big enough to feed all the people on a diet heavy with meat. We can either cut back on the human population, or reduce the dependence on meat. A great deal can be accomplished simply by scaling back the role of meat in our diets. If there is an abundance of low cost fruits and vegetables available in the markets, then no one needs to go hungry.
What a simple and gentle solution! Stop global warming, feed the hungry, and save the world. What am I missing? Are the international bankers planning to loan us the $45 trillion for the CCS swindle? 99% of the earth (yes, that 99%) is already in debt to the Company Store, so what’s the difference? Like the Greeks, we will all be slaves forevermore anyway.
However, Gaia, Mother Earth, is actually Mother Goose, laying golden eggs for us all. But if we kill the Earth and take all of the gold, we will all be dead, bankers and all, because we can’t eat gold (just ask King Midas), and a dead Earth will no longer support life.
Therefore, choose Life.
