Western Courier

Issue date: 10/14/09 Section: Opinion

Skylar Partridge

"I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for they have no tongues. And I'm asking you sir at the top of my lungs' - he was very upset as he shouted and puffed, 'what's that thing you've made out of my truffula tuft?'"

Most of us remember Dr. Seuss's tale of pollution titled "The Lorax" from our childhood, but seldom realize the parallels it holds to the non-cartoon world.

I saw you skeptics roll your eyes just now. Yeah, you crazies that claim global warming isn't happening. The idiots that ignored "An Inconvenient Truth" because of the tone of Gore's voice. Yes, he has a mind-numbing monotone, but he makes valid facts in that film.

Similar to the Gore boredom, you may be tired of this topic, but when new pollution facts are released we should be allowed to discuss them as legitimate problems to our planet without debating the credibility of global warming. So chill out (literally) and check this out:

An article released on Oct. 2, 2009 by JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) of NASA reveals an infrared satellite film that depicts carbon monoxide levels trapped roughly three miles above the Earth's surface that are traveling around the world through weather fronts.

This article is rather epic in that this research proves that pollution from across the globe can travel and affect a continent hundreds of miles away. From this research, experts hope to develop some kind of system to predict future pollution damage.

So you see it really doesn't matter if you think the greenhouse effect is real, or don't believe that the Earth is gradually warming up.

The point is that as humans, we continue to exert a negative effect on our planet. All the exhaust from our gas-guzzling cars and expensive homes has to go somewhere, and we forget to care about where it goes.

Eventually the Earth won't be able to handle the stress of all our trash, exhaust and landfills. Hell, we dump our crap in space all the time to float about willy-nilly without a thought of what else we may be influencing.

What if we finally figure out how to predict pollution damage but it's too late to reverse? Now is the only time to be aware of our effect on our surroundings. Because "unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not."

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