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wolfchild ..... yeah, you know what lies between extremes, often? Yeah, Truth.
If you cannot read a thermometer, cool .... and if you think that therefore no one else can, cool. If you think that the fact that the average temperature has been rising steadily is all a lie, .... cool.
Having spent many years as an environmental activist, I have seen the excesses of that crowd ... but when you have undrinkable water and unbreathable air, well, it is hard to stay calm.
Not sure many people realize how much better air quality, for instance, has gotten because of the enviro-nazis demand that we clean up auto and power-plant exhaust. Anyone who has been to any industrial city in China, where 1960's-era LA smog is considered "good air quality," or anyone who is concerned about lung disease associated with air pollution .... but some folks only believe what they want. Also cool with me.
The other side, the pollution producers and pollution deniers ... they are also often over-the-top ridiculous in their denials .... of course, when secret internal documents revealed that the major petro-chemical companies knew for decades that they were doing extreme damage to the atmosphere ... you have to be very careful to pick data which support the imaginary position that pollution is good for us.
Reminds me of the extreme racists who refused to admit (or in some cases still refuse to admit) that people with different last names or different accents or different skin tones are actual valid human beings worthy of human rights. It seems ridiculous, absurd, so wildly outdated that no one would ever hold to that nonsense, right? But I have met people who do.
Everyone else on the planet realizes that all people are people but some folks still deny that. And they can show the YouTube videos or whatever supporting their positions ....
And the Flat-Earthers trump everybody when it comes to denying reality staunchly ......
But sorry. Just because you can attack one extreme does not mean the other extreme is correct. The truth seems to be ... and we have known this for a Long time---that the Earth goes naturally through climate change ..... (Look at the warming trend which increased health and wealth in Europe at the end of the Dark Ages .... ) and we have known for a long time that even relatively small communities (relative to modern population densities) can dramatically alter immediate climates and in fact, can kill themselves off (heard much from Easter Island lately?)
You can deny that widespread pollution has any effect, you can argue that widespread deforestation has no effect, you can argue that major shifting of major bodies of water has no greater effect .... and you would look pretty silly.
Look, it is fine with me if you want to believe obviously untrue things. it is your option. And if you want to think that denying truth is productive .... you are right. What it has been producing so far is an increasing trend of wider and deeper environmental alterations which are already making life vastly more expensive and more difficult for many people. Here in North America, and in other developed, economically leveraged nations, the population is still living in some comfort. Of course, most of the world's population doesn't live in those conditions. We ignore the plight of anyone but ourselves .... but sooner or later we won't be able to ignore it.
Possibly neither you nor I will live long enough for me to say "Told you so" and frankly, I wouldn't want to because the situation's grimness doesn't admit much pettiness.
Anyway ... pretty sure what kind of bike I ride has about zero effect on how well the human and other races will fare in the near or far future. I suggest to everyone that honesty, kindness, and self-discipline are virtues worth cultivating.