傻冒儿 Stupid Hat aka ShaMao'er

An Inconvenient Truth

I will watch the documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" this afternoon.  This is of course Al Gore's film on global warming.  I honestly have not read too much about it but know that it got very good reviews and that the premise is that global warming is real, it is a threat, it is man-made, and that we (humankind) must do something about it. 

I have some thoughts on global warming prior to viewing the documentary.  It will be interesting (to me at least!) if and how they change after seeing the movie.

Thoughts on global warming:

1)  Global warming may be a natural earth process that has little to do with human activities.  The geological record indicates nearly constant (in geological terms) fluctuations in climates.  Had the warming happened to happen a hundred years ago, it would not have even been measured by humans.   I recently read part of "Collapse" by Jared Diamond and so the case of the Vikings in Greenland comes to mind.  At that time (around the 11th century I think), Greenland was warmer than it is today and so habitable to the Vikings who built long lasting settlements there.  A few hundred years later it got much colder in Greenland and the settlements were eventually abandoned.

2) If it is in fact related to human burning of carbon fuels, the market will eventually provide a correction.  Once there is enough money to made from it, the market will drive innovation into alternatives and other cleaner energy technologies.  It seems that most of the projections and the like I have seen seem to assume a constant state of technology.  I am quite confident in mankinds ability to innovate a solution to this.   If in fact, #1 above is true, it is still a good thing to clean up the air of course (especially as a resident of China).   

I'll write after I see the movie to see if there are any major changes in my thinking.

Death and dying

A close acquantaince told me a story recently which has lingered in my mind.  Strange how certain things linger like that.  I think I forget pretty much immediately or never even really hear 95% of what I am told, but a few things linger. 

She had been visiting the dying father of her friend.  She had known the old man for some years and spoken to him on occassion but I dont think they had ever spent any real time together.  The dying man had been some sort of fairly powerful man in China and then Taiwan.  I believe he had been in the Nationalist Army and fled to Taiwan together with Chiang Kaishek in 1949 at the end of the Chinese civil war.  In Taiwan he was a govt official for awhile and then I think went into business.  I'm not sure the details but he ended up quite powerful and rich.  In the 1970's he and his family emigrated to the US and opened several higher end restaurants that were pretty successful.   I think he had about 5 kids. 

In any event, my friend (a writer) was intrigued by his story and so spent quite a bit of time with him in the hospital talking to him.   One day she went in and his condition had deteriorated.   He took her hand and said Lei, I am dying.  I don't want to die.   She said that the look in his eyes and the sound of his voice was this terrible mixture of fear, despair, and maybe even confusion.  All his adult life he had been the type of person who was in control of everything, but this he couldn't control.  He did not want to let go.   It was hard for him to die.   He died the next day.

Something about this story got to me.  I can picture the image she described very clearly.  I can imagine myself as the old man.  Dying like that would be unbearable I think.  You would hope when you were that old (he was over 80) you might have made some sort of peace with it but it isn't the case I think, especially among the intelligent.  Much better to die suddenly somehow, or to get alzheimers and lose your mind first, or even to kill yourself at the time of your choosing.  How can you lie in bed for a long period knowing your death is imminent.   Especially if you don't believe in any afterlife.   Anyone with any sort of terminal illness should have the option of assisted suicide at the time of their choosing even if early in the course of the disease.   

Back from holiday

eBack from a 15 day holiday back to the US. It was nice. Clean air, clean air, clean air. That is the one thing I notice continuously when I am there. And the sky, like a painting, especially around sunset. The difference from Northern China is so great, I don't think it could be really appreciated by anyone who has not lived here awhile. Landed in Beijing on Sun night. You could smell the smoke in the air in the cabin as soon as we landed.  No exaggeration.   What an awful place.    Only that one thing that makes it bearable... unfortunately that one thing is damn compelling..