the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself

I was thinking today (I know, I know...but it happens occasionally).

So many things suddenly burst into popular culture as “pressing” dangers, only to fade into obscurity when the next big thing happens.

I've been stuck – focused on one overarching threat for the past few years. It grips me beyond anything else.

The changing climate of our planet is something that cannot be ignored....and yet, it actually is ignored by large segments of our species.

I started thinking about “why” this happens, and I have a theory. I cold be wrong (that, too, happens... occasionally).

Very few things truly separate us from the other members of the animal kingdom. Our ability to create and harness fire is one.

We, as a species, sometimes delight in using this skill to burn our own houses down, while sitting inside the conflagration, grinning as if unaffected.

Humans harbor great cognitive intelligence and, still we acquiesce to willful ignorance. My guess is that it is easier to give in to blatant disregard of fact than it is to stand up against frightening truths.

This is where we are with “Global Climate Change.” We even had to water down the term “Global Warming,” as not to stir panicked feelings.

What's ironic is we can get so worked up, so damned afraid of buzzwords like “ISIS,” “Syrian Refugees,” “Zika Virus,” or “Ebola Virus” that we fail to see these things are symptoms of a very frightening, very real and present threat to Humanity: Global Warming.

It's easier to bottleneck our thoughts in the handpicked media sensation du jour than it is to confront something as formidable as an Extinction Level Event.

This has nothing to do with the actual intelligence of people who are caught up with the mass media version of popular culture. The bombardment of tail-wagging-the-dog pseudo information shows up everywhere. You cannot watch a 24-hour News channel, scroll through social media postings or Google a topic without being force fed distilled, singular perspectives and agenda-driven kernels of supposed “truth.”

I am as easily a victim of the constant tugging at our emotional strings and “hot button topics” as anyone.

One thing I do now is further vet the sources where information comes from, and it takes a lot of work. I have the luxury of freedom to check information as it's presented. Not everyone in the world does.

Climate change is huge. It is very real, very scary, and it is happening - even as we debate how rapidly it's occurring. Every second we squander in debate is time lost. Those are the facts and the consequences of inaction grow daily.

So, who do you go to for information? What's the solution?

I can answer the first part with two ideas; first, turn off your televisions. Second, read the studies themselves, not just the Yahoo News article that pops up in your feed.

There's nothing wrong with television....unless you start looking to it for facts and answers. Television is entertainment. Yes, all of it, even the “news.” If it is preceded by, followed by or interrupted by a commercial, then it is paid programming, sponsored by people or companies selling “something.” That means those stations have to compete for the money of those sponsors by delivering entertainment that will allow the ads to reach more people than the other network. Every network has a niche demographic, and every network plays to a certain audience. It dictates the race, sex and age of their “news” reporters, and it further dictates the types of rhetoric and concepts they'll push. They do this because there's billions of dollars in being the “go to” station for boner pills and alert bracelets, and not because they adhere to any set journalistic ethics and standards.

Here's a secret...it's a shocker, so come close and have a seat... the “news” reporters... don't really know what they're talking about. I'm not kidding you. Television news is written by a team of writers, then projected onto teleprompters for people with orange spray-on tans and really obscenely white teeth to read to you with a serious look, a smile or a frown. There may be an occasional misty eye or quivering chin. They get paid to do this...who knew?

So, back to the second question; what's the solution?

I don't know. No one knows, actually, but it's a safe bet that turning off your TV and vetting your “news” sources might be a great start.