If you do not believe in Global warming yet I am amazed. The Sunday Seattle Times ran an article last week entitled, "The truth about global warming." Basically it was a run down of all the scientific evidence supporting the existence of global warming. It is here, we can not blame any one specific incident on it (not even Katrina), but yes it is here and it is coming on stronger and quicker than previously predicted. But really you do not have to read that article. If you really want to know if something's true, check out the business section. They always tell it straight in the business section.

Last Monday, the business news on global warning made the front page of the New York Times. As polar ice turns to water, dreams of treasure abound. The article high-lights the bright side of global warming: Entrepreneurs around the world are positioning themselves to make a buck. A man from Denver purchased an entire port on the shores of Hudson Bay. Currently it is blocked by ice for most of the year, but he anticipates that someday in the near future, it will be a $100 million dollar a year shipping port. The fabled Northwest Passage comes to life thanks to global warming. Never mind that entire island cultures are sinking into the sea, the US, Russia, Denmark and Norway are all trying to figure out how to divvy up the melting polar ocean, along with all of it's potential goodies, shipping routes, fisheries, oil, and natural gas. But I have to stop here and wonder, what will we be shipping through our precious northern short cut, once global warming has made the polar ice cap a seasonal wonder? What will the rest of the feverish planet have to offer?? The New York Times article mentions the potential for new cruise ship destinations. Will we really have the stomach for a disneyfied vacation through a planetary natural disaster?? I just have to quote the Cree Proverb (you see a lot of out-doorsy types sporting this one on their t-shirts . . .. its a good one). "Only when the last tree has died, and the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can not eat money."

You can find the Seattle Times article at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002549346_globewarm11.html And the New York Times article at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1010-07.htm The New Yorker recently ran a series of articles by Elizabeth Colbert on the science as well as the human implications of global warming. The third and final article of the series can be found on line at: http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/050509fa_fact3

If you want to do something important close to home, make sure to take some time to speak up at the Governor's Final Forum Hearing for the Clean Cars Program this next Monday, October 24.

Enjoy this week's dirt.

Cheyenne and the rest of us,
Spreading Roots, Spring Forth