As I was wrapping presents, I was watching what I think is a re cutting of "Planet Earth" that highlights how people suck and we're destroying the planet. One guy suggested that the earth could support 3 billion people, but already has 6 billion people. There were a ton of things that I don't really know what to do with. The easiest thing to do is ignore all the stuff they threw up, and go on with my life. In other words, make it somebody else's problem. But if we really are destroying the earth, I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the problem. The thing that bothers me is that side lies constantly. It's like they're saying the sky is falling. Or perhaps it's more like they're crying wolf. In the first case, they're misinformed. In the second, maybe there is (or could be) a real problem, but they're lying about it right now. And I mean lying, on purpose, and in a big way, to make the problem more urgent in people's minds. 2008 was the hottest year on record. Except it wasn't. End of story. We lied. We were trying to get your attention. Ok, but things like that make people like me doubt the veracity of your claims. If there are real, scientific studies, that show evidence of human caused climate change, please bring them to my attention. I will try to find the flaws in them, but if I don't find any, I will admit it, and I'll be on your side. Climate change should not be a political issue. It concerns us all. I want my children to grow up on a better earth than the one I now inhabit, and I think most other people do as well.

An interesting calculation:

Texas contains 261,797 square miles of land. If there are 6,000,000,000 people on earth, then if we shipped every last one of them to Texas, each one would have 1216 square feet of space to him or herself. Allocating 25% of all land space for public use, and assuming an average family size of four, that gives each family a 2000 square foot home, and an additional 1600 square foot of space to garden. (that is not enough by the way, not to mention the water resources might last an hour....) The point is that the rest of the world would be devoid of human life, and we wouldn't even have to live in apartments. If we chose to live in high rises, and we could solve the water problem, we could all live in Texas, and some of us could even eat meat. Most would have to be vegetarians, because veggies have a much better energy return to energy input ratio than meat, and space would be limited. Looking at numbers like that (and they are created by me, by the way) is what makes me doubt that we are having such a huge impact on the earth. I hope I'm right, but I can't be sure. Anyway, there appears to be enough food, water, and space for Christmas to take place in a couple hours anyway. You all have a good night. I'm going to try to sleep.

Be good, for goodness sake.