Introduction

Are you up-to-date on today's environmental issues? We believe that taking care of the environment is a moral issue (see our mission statement). People of other faiths agree with us too. Here we've distilled the top three issues of our time to get you started. We'll touch on many other issues as well in the course of our blogging, so come back often.

Global Warming

Global warming is a the gradual warming of the Earth caused by human activities, namely  combustion. Carbon dioxide gas released from engines, furnaces, and power plants is building up in the atmosphere and acting like a blanket, holding in heat that we receive from the sun. The average global temperature is now rising on the order of a degree every few years. It may not sound like much, but the consequences are monumental. It means the melting of polar ice, rising sea levels, sinking coastlines and islands. It means more severe storms more often, and unpredictable shifting weather patterns that are bad for agriculture. Vast agricultural areas could be made into deserts.

The vast majority of scientists in all countries agree that this is happening. Only a small handful of scientists disagree, and rumor has it that these dissenters have been paid by special interest groups to create doubt. These groups fear losses in profits from potential regulations that would limit combustion. The only debate among global warming believers is about how bad the situation will get and how soon.

Habitat Destruction

Habitat destruction is the destruction of places where plants and animals live and get their resources from. Without food to eat, water to drink, and a place to stand, plants and animals die. Human development removes hundreds of millions of acres of additional land out of the ecosystem every year. The land is used for building construction, parking lots, agriculture, golf courses, and other human constructs. While this land consumption might provide us with recreational activities, it is reducing the area where the Earth's ecosystem can exist. Without our ecosystem, humans will eventually cease to exist.

Some habitats, especially wetland and ocean habitats are made unusable by pollution. Pollution such as pesticide run-off, oil spills, ocean garbage dumping, and poor hazardous waste disposal practices are also taking usable habitat out the ecosystem by means of poisoning them. Our oceans, which were once thought of as inexhaustible food source, are dying.

Mass Extinction

Add up the results of global warming and habitat destruction, plus throw in a human population explosion, over fishing, and over hunting, and what to you get? That's right, mass extinction. This ain't no theory, cousin. It's happening right now. Biologists all over the world are watching and measuring the largest die-off of species since a huge meteor hit the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. In fact, many are saying that we're already losing species at a faster rate than what occurred during the dinosaur extinction.

In this mass extinction, humans are not immune. The problem cannot be overstated. Killing our flora and fauna, and eliminating our ecosystem from under our own feet will not be without consequences for us. We have already witnessed the first mass exodus of humans due to unfavorable climatic conditions. Do you remember hurricane Katrina?

The Solution

The solution is neither simple nor easy, but there are solutions. It will take a unified effort of all citizens of all nations, including the United States, to reverse the course we are on and save our biosphere and ourselves from destruction. That means a broad based effort with everyone's participation is needed. So, any effort you personally can make, small or large, is welcome. In fact it's a necessary part of the solution. See some of our suggestions here.