M.D. Harmon’s column (Dec. 3) about global warming raises the largely irrelevant issue of whether we are in a natural or manmade period of global warming.

I say irrelevant because, while we argue about global warming, our oceans are overfished and chemical fertilizer runoffs create dead zones, and the devastation of our forests leads to encroaching deserts. Our polluted air causes the rain to turn to acid as it falls.

The real issue is why do we continue to soil the only Earth-nest we have?

Does the cause of warming really matter, when our rivers and oceans are being destroyed by toxic wastes, organic matter and just plain trash? When Earth’s limited resources are being exhausted?

What really matters is that people suffer from various ailments, such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, that are caused in part by the use of our air, land and water as waste disposal sites so that a few people grow wealthy at the expense of health and welfare of the many.

In my lifetime, the population of the world has more than doubled (3 billion to 7 billion) and will do so again should I live to be 100 (12 billion by 2050). Need I say ecological disaster?

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The Mayans outgrew their environment, leading to ecological disaster followed by economic and political collapse. Will we do the same?

The human race acts like a virus that began in Africa and then infested the entire Earth-corpus, consuming energy and resources while emitting toxins. How long will it be before the patient dies?

Astronomers have discovered several class-M planets (might support human life) to which we could migrate I suppose. Unfortunately, the nearest one is 6 billion light years away.

Get your reservations now.

Charles Robertson, Palermo


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