Maybe all those creepy guys wearing polyester suits in the 70's were on to something...

I think the majority of people are convinced that global warming is real. Even the President is promoting an increase in our use of alternative fuels. Although this is being touted as more of a national security issue to absolve our dependence on foreign oil, I'm beginning to think that even the most conservative of Republicans are seeing the weird fluctuations in the weather this winter, and wondering if perhaps this isn't just a natural cycle of the Earth.

An international committee of world science experts are planning to release an official statement next month saying that global warming may be even more catastrophic than previously estimated. As noted in the story, one UK expert says:

The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document - that's what makes it so scary.

So what is a country to do? Well, the current American strategy seems to be a promotion of alternative fuels. However, so far, this doesn't seem to be making much of a dent. Some believe that we should be taking an approach that hits everyone where it hurts to make them really understand the impact our stratospheric production of carbon emissions is making on the environment--a carbon tax. Considering the way that the recent jump in gasoline prices seemed to convince everyone over the past couple of years to drive a little less, I think this may make some sense. After all, the crash of GM and Ford in large part due to the lessening demand for SUVs and pickups, is probably more in part to the high price of gas rather than any actual concern about the environment.

Apparently, most of the rest of the industrialized world is doing their part to reduce carbon emissions. In fact, Sweden is apparently one of the world leaders in environmentally friendly industry practices. What strikes me as odd, though, is that this is the country that has brought us megastores like Ikea and H&M, a furniture store and clothing store, respectively, that pride themselves on providing consumers with cheap disposable products that allow you to just buy new things at low prices as trends change with time. How that jives with the environment, I'll never understand.

So what are we to do? If you believe this story from The New York Times, perhaps we should be wearing more polyester. The energy expenditures for a cotton shirt over its lifetime, when you include the electricity needed to wash and dry it, are much higher when you compare it to an equivalent polyester one. Who knew we could be reducing carbon emissions with just a simple change in our clothing material? Now I won't be sweating it out in polyester any time soon, but it does make you think.