The other side of global warming.

I spent a small part of my vacation visiting my ultra-conservative, anti-choice, gun-loving uncle.

We talk about gardening a lot.

Seriously, we do talk about politics and current events some. 80% of all topics we are polar opposites but occasionally we find common ground. It always shocks me that we find common opinions, but we have more than you might think, certainly more than I expect. Maybe he's so far right and I'm so far left that we meet around the back.

Anyway, he did say something that stuck with me. He used to be a geological engineer and had an interesting perspective on global warming. Unlike most Republicans, he completely agreed that it exists and greenhouse gasses are a significant cause. He said it just doesn't bother him much. The climate changes all the time, and nature changes with it.

Now, under no circumstances does this change my opinions that the CAFE standards are ridiculously low, the Kyoto Protocals should be adopted immediately or that we should be using vastly more solar and wind power than we do. We should stop the hideous contributions we are making to climate change as soon as possible.

But it's an interesting perspective. Nature will adapt, he's right. The earth will just be a very different place than we live in now. And "we" as a race may have a very different or nonexistant place in it.

I guess the difference between him and me on this topic is that it does bother me. I have kids, and I'd like them to have a planet to live in that is able to support them. He doesn't have that worry.