This is great! An environmental group wants to carve President Donald Trump’s face into an iceberg! As an American, I like it! Unfortunately, it is not because he is a great president and all the things he is doing and shake up he is causing in the political world, but as a protest and in the name of raising awareness. However, there are few problems with this “project”.
The Finnish non-governmental group, the Melting Ice Association, wants to prove that climate change exists by watching the carving of President Trump melt over time. Yes, climate change exists. Yes, humans caused it. Yes, there are things that we (the world, not just the U.S.) can do to reduce the carbon emissions. This is a global problem, not a “first world” problem nor the problem of just a few countries.
One of the issues raised in this article was that the United States pulled out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, an agreement signed by nearly 200 countries focused on reducing carbon emissions and slowing the rise of global temperatures. There were some other words in there as well, but you get the gist.
So the world and environmentalists see the U.S. and President Trump as the bad guys here. This is because he pulled out of a program that the U.S. was spending money on yet the return on our country’s investment was not showing a return. Not necessarily a monetary return, but tangible results from the money we are investing. Also, because countries agreed that there needed something to be done, but only a few were doing anything.
Our investment towards fixing the climate change problem is not a bad thing, but with 196 independent countries in the world, how is it that only a few are actually investing money, time, energy, and R&D into the WORLD problem? With 175 countries signing the Paris agreement, only 15 countries ratified it. Hmmm…more on that later.
So this group wants to raise $500,000 to carve this monument (I will call this a monument because I think this is great!) to watch it melt in the name of reducing carbon emissions and global warming. Ok, I get it. Raising Awareness! A noble cause.
I see this only being effectively executed in one method if is to be in the name of “proving global warming exists”. That is to conduct this project not using anything that can cause or be linked to carbon emissions. Here are some ways they can do that:
- Everyone involved has to walk there. Vehicles are an enormous producer of carbon emissions while in use. Then the construction of making the different modes of transportation increase that carbon footprint. You can use a boat, however, not the chainsaw to cut down the trees, nor the modern tools to carve ad build the boat.
- No man made camping equipment. That tent you want to use from that outfitting store, sorry, it has a carbon footprint too. Not to mention the rest of the equipment they sold you, coats, gloves, hats, boots, etc. All cause carbon emission in their construction, delivery to the store, and the electricity used to power the store.
- The carving tools you procured from a factory? Unauthorized. Steel production, mining different metals, producing plastics and fiberglass…all manmade. All produce carbon emissions.
- Fires. Sorry, it causes carbon emissions too. Try cuddling and sharing body heat…it’s free and brings each other closer
If this group really wants to make this monument out of the name of Global Warming and Carbon Emission reduction, do it the old fashioned way. Hunt for your tools, food, shelter, and clothing using hand carved spears, axes, tools, parts for the boats, etc. The clothes you wear, well, those need to be made from the animal hides you harvest. You can even use the bones as needles and tendons as thread to make a nice pair of leather hide shoes.
I know that I am being a little extreme here, but that’s the point. A group wants to raise money to go to a glacier and carve a monument to watch it melt. Umm, what’s gong to happen to all the little pieces of ice that get chipped away or melt during friction caused by the tools during carving?
I have a suggestion for the group. Raise the money. A great feat in itself. But, instead of protesting a single person or country, use that money to go to other countries and help them set up their own programs. The U.S. and other first world countries are already doing this within our own borders.
During my time in the military I saw many countries that are in desperate need of regulation of their environmental programs (if one exists at all) and need help reducing carbon emissions. The litter and garbage does not go to a centralized landfill, it goes into the streets and the wind blows it wherever. There are programs in some of these countries, but only certain areas get cleaned or work as a community to have services.
President Trump did the American people a service. Stop spending our money when other countries are not doing their parts of the agreement. This has nothing to do with global warming not existing, but ensuring that everyone is doing their part. An inividual would be hard pressed to continue to pay into a program where only a few are actually paying into on behalf of 175 participants. This is what the president has done.
To believe that global warming does not exist is just naïve. We, as the populace of the world, are responsible for the existence of global warming just by existing and growing ourselves. I agree that there needs to be something done to reduce it. Whether it is through a world wide regulatory organization that enforces reducing carbon emissions, or through clean energy production with solar, wind, and geothermal solutions, or reducing the excessive and disposable use of products and services. Something needs to be done.
Bottom line, this Finnish NGO, could use the money raised to do more good than just carve a glacier. $500,000 is a lot of money. Let’s put it to better use trying to improve world level environmental programs or how to reduce global carbon emissions. Until these are addressed and the world unifies and gets to work on fixing these, the world will continue to move on as it is. And pretty soon we will all live on a planet that is either covered in water or all dried up and looks like a giant garbage dump and trying to figure out how we got there. Then maybe we will finally come together and try to figure out how to get off this rock
God Bless America and God Bless President Donald J. Trump.
Daffy’s Duck Blind 