This green and pleasant land? But ....
I was driving down to London one morning, about 2 years ago. I was listening to a program on the radio. It was a phone-in program and there was a panel of environment experts on the the program.
One listener rang in and said, 'Given how much damage has been done to the environment, will the earth survive?' One of the experts answered, 'With respect, you are asking the wrong question. The earth will undoubtably survive. The question that you should have asked was, will man?'.
We live in a green and pleasant land, as they say. It is green and pleasant because the climate has reached an equilibrium point that allows for this. Such is its nature, the equilibrium point may not allow us to accurately predict the exact rainfall or temperature on a given day. However, it does allow us to predict, reasonably accurately, what the average temperature and rainfall will be on a given day. As a result, we are able to plan our daily lives. For example, if our annual rainfall was very high, we would not build houses in a river's flood plain. I'm sure that you can think of many more examples.
Given the current level of pollution, the earth's climate is changing. As a result, a new equilibrium point will be reached where average temperatures and rainfall may be very different to those which we now experience. The issue is, how different? A little? A lot? The point is - no one knows.
If we continue to pollute the planet at the current rate, who knows where we may end up, and this green and pleasant may not be so green or so pleasant in the future.
So, before you decide not to recycle that can, or drive needlesslessly into town, rather than walk, please think about the consequences. Better to do something now than to have to explain why you didn't to the next generation.
Psycho