Lately it has grown impossible not to contemplate the sustainability of our modern life amongst a backdrop of hyper-partisan politics, overpopulation and global warming. Each week brings disturbing new tales of climate-related abnormalities adversely impacting our habitat. Or that a nefarious virus, previously contained in some species or jungle, insulated from humanity, was unleashed due to man’s insatiable desire to consume land and resources.

On February 6, 2020, the temperature in Antarctica rose to a record high of 64.9 degrees, roughly the same reading found in Los Angeles that same day, continuing a trend that is causing widespread glacial melting. We see ice sheets the size of Delaware breaking off routinely. Massive wild fires recently cannabalized parts of California and Australia.

There remain plenty of climate change deniers out there, including the current inhabitant of the White House. This crew walk like Lemmings, in unison to better reinforce their doltish opinions on climate change, and collectively stuff their heads into the sand in some ritualistic method, allowing them to deny any responsibility for the tragedies occurring in plain sight.

My question is, regardless of whether you believe climate change is primarily a human-induced epidemic, or symptomatic of a natural shift in the Earth’s lifecycle, why would everyone not do everything possible to prevent the situation from getting worse?

Deniers rely on global warming being a natural weather-change cycle, regardless of the science indicating otherwise, because it absolves their greed, and any wrongdoing or need to behave better. Unless we know of another inhabitable planet, it might be a good idea to start making plans to save the only one we know.

We’ve seen this movie before. Temperatures rise, glaciers melt, sea waters rise, massive out migrations occur from coastal regions, access to potable water becomes an issue, food supplies are disrupted from temperature fluctuations, resulting in an epic death toll for humans and animals. But America is reactionary, and historically it requires catastrophe to strike before citizens and politicians are jolted into reality.

I get people are consumed by the bewildering pace of managing modern life, but it’s a tragic error for us all not to recognize how every facet of this convenience-laden lifestyle we’ve created hangs by a single interconnected thread.

People are accustomed to having every whim at their fingertips 24/7. Whether that be food, drink, a flight to the Bahamas, or the latest video game. That necessitates Walmart remains open and staffed; that Amazon can fill delivery orders; that planes are flying; and that our aged infrastructure allows reliable transit throughout the country.

Any sort of climate apparition, or virus pandemic, such as we are seeing unfold in Wuhan, Hubei, China, could quickly disrupt global supply chains and logistics, bringing an abrupt stop to our modern way of life, and devastate world economies.

It’s impossible to miss the vast temperature swings that are so common these days. Few light rain showers exist any more. It just pours violently. Tornadoes drop from the sky and rip cities from the map. We don’t have snow flurries, it’s thunder snow.

These previously were considered weather anomalies. Now they are the norm. Unfortunately this sort of climate shift isn’t going to simply be corrected because some responsible citizens opt to recycle at home and cut down on single use plastic bottles.

This will require sacrifice. A change in how we live, work, the way we engage with our habitat, transportation methods, and best practices for guaranteeing adequate food sources. It’s certainly a dramatic undertaking but a challenge that can be met.

Sadly, we as a people essentially have waged war against the environment for some 200 years, and the Earth is now actively fighting back. All we do is consume and pollute the one and only home we know, basically in the pursuit of the almighty dollar and convenience.

Global warming is here. Climate change is under way. People fret about terrorism. You want to see a real war. Wait until water isn’t readily available. Now there is something worth dying over.