Global Warming: No, really, it's a thing.

While shoveling gravel on Sunday, I came across a bright green caterpillar and noticed a lot of spring growth on trees, shrubs and vines... What month is this again?

The issue of Global Warming is a hugely popular subject of discussion in England; there is a constant buzz on the radio and television, in news papers and among the general public about it. It is an upsetting issue for people here, where Global Warming is significantly more noticeable than it is in places like Florida, and it's not something to be taken lightly; after all, it is detrimental to the world as we know it, not to mention the survival of the human race.

The Guardian did a Special Report on Global Warming on Sunday. The article is nothing short of disturbing, as this UK climate expert points out:

"'The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document - that's what makes it so scary,' said one senior UK climate expert."

Global Warming has caused longer, warmer summers and shorter, milder winters, show cased nicely by the presence of butterflies, bees and lambs in an English December/January and the confusion on the parts of bears in Russia and Spain.

There was a news report on the television the other day about Global Warming in which the reporter pointed out that the US is the #1 carbon contributor with China as a close second. The reporter then went on to discuss why these countries are so bad for the environment, pointing out the utter lack of concern on the part of the US and the horrible manner of China's sudden success; the report on China was longer and more detailed.
The US, of course, deserves all of the bad press it gets concerning the general attitude toward the environment, but as far as China's role goes, if history tells me correctly, they're simply doing exactly as the US and UK did when they hit their economic boom, rocketing them through the industrial revolution and, eventually, to more environmentally friendly methods of supplying power.

But I digress...

The push for a more "Carbon Neutral" approach toward life is a very big deal in the UK; it's something that everyone on TV, on the Radio and in everyday life talks about and, at least in theory, supports. One of their huge stores over here, Marks and Spencer, which supplies food, clothes, cosmetics, furniture, plants, etc., has recently pledged to become carbon neutral, or at least as close to neutral as possible, within the next five years. It is an ambitious and admirable goal, something that hopefully will set an example, perhaps a standard, for other super stores around the world.
Of course M&S is a quality conscious store that has something like morals and a desire to produce not only high quality products and service, but also a great working and shopping environment as well; so we probably shouldn't hold our collective breath waiting for the likes of Wal-Mart to make any remotely similar pledges.