Love the earth, man.

So I started my SCUBA class with my friend Brittney this past Tuesday and it was awesome. Being able to breath underwater and passing into a new realm was amazing. I am excited to get certified and be able to do more open water dives. I am going to Hawaii in about 3 weeks and plan on diving while I am there. I have done a lot of other outdoor activities (hiking, climbing, mountain biking, etc.) but I've never dived before so this is a whole new experience. I am pretty excited. They we know more about the moon than we do about the ocean, and though it's pretty cliche, I think it's true. Having access to this frontier is something I am looking forward to.

In connection with this, I have read several news pieces lately concerning the problems of global warming and the melting ice caps due to greenhouse gas emissions. I have had a hard time swallowing the global warming claims for a long time because of a lack of truly solid evidence. It seems more likely the earth has natural warming and cooling cycles and we just happen to be experiencing a warming cycle.

Don't get me wrong, I love the environment and the earth we live on. In fact, I was recently discussing with some co-workers the fizzle in environmental fervor we saw 10-15 years ago which seemed to largely focus on the rain forests. I wish some of this would come back. I could do without the dreads and walking around barefoot (yeah, dude from my freshman year in college you know who you are), but it would be nice to see more information about what is going on with the global environment.

More and more, however, I am becoming open to the idea that there is global warming and that our dependence on fossil and carbon based fuels is bad, not just for economic reasons, but because of environmental reasons. I read an article today by a NASA scientist that claims the ice caps are melting faster than we thought and that if we don't do something in the next 10 years to alter this we will see some pretty devastating things. I have not bought into this completely, but am open to seeing more info. If anyone who stumbles across this blog can hook me up with some info I would be very appreciative. Thanks, and remember to love the earth.