“Believe It, Or Not…”

There has been a lot of talk about ‘Global Warming’ in the last couple of years, with seemingly everybody who’s anybody jumping onto the bandwagon. This is quite likely the biggest single widespread ‘trend’ with no rational reason for support since the ‘Pet-Rock’ craze of the 1970’s.

Much like the people who were compelled to go out and spend several dollars for A ROCK in the era of disco (pre-Urban Cowboy), untold numbers of people who seem, otherwise, to be fairly intelligent are inclined to accept the claim that the planet is racing toward the day when Life as we know it will cease to exist; the victim of all manner of horrendous developments resulting from the average temperature rising beyond that which allows for Life to exist.

Sounds a little like the plot of a bad Science-Fiction Movie, but enough people with the ability to be heard (right, wrong or otherwise) by vast numbers of The Public (who go on to contribute bazillions of dollars “for a good cause”) continue to preach the doom & gloom of the Global Warming Scam.

Currently, this seems to be the most prominent threat to Our World that we have ever experienced, with the potential to wipe out the entire eco-system and all living beings within the next 50 years. It is, in no uncertain terms, the End of the World As We Know It. Well, unless some of the several other Doomsday-Scenario problems I recall happen to beat Global Warming to the draw…

The first time I recall ever discovering that we were all in eminent danger of extinction, I was but a small and innocent child of 8 or 9 years old. As a voracious reader destined to become quite the well-informed scholar later in Life, I stumbled upon a story about how, with every revolution around the sun, Earth was drawn just a little closer. At the rate things were going, the day that everything would be fried to a crisp was only a few decades away. This was scary stuff for a little kid.

Less than ten years later, “scientists” were predicting (based upon current information) that a new Ice Age was coming at an alarming rate and we would all perish from the results of sub-freezing temperatures for years at a time.

When that “natural disaster” faded out of vogue, the ‘hole in the ozone layer’ that was getting progressively larger was the “pet problem” that was all over the news. Acid Rain soon took over the Number One Spot for the “We’re All Gonna Die Crowd.”

A long line of “Save The Planet” (mostly by donating money and/or raising taxes) potential nightmares have come and gone during the last few decades. In 1992 there was a major “consensus” that “We have less than ten years to save the planet…” Y-2-K even basically fizzled out without making much of a dent in Life On Earth and 2002 should have been (based on the predictions from the early 1990’s) the absolute final breath for Planet Earth. Rudimentary mathematical calculations indicate that was over five years ago (and we’re still around).

And now, with Global Warming raging out of control, there was frost on the ground and freezing overnight temperatures within 60 miles of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in mid-April; with high-temps in the mid-50’s. There is reason to believe that this unseasonably cool phenomenon might be God’s way of demonstrating that he has The World’s Climate under control and nothing that a bunch of self-proclaimed ‘experts’ have to say will actually amount to anything. Climatologists, scientists and educated professionals of all sorts probably have a veritable grocery list of reasons for the sudden off-the-wall dip in temperatures the last few days.

I have a slightly different explanation for the unseasonable cold-snap we have just experienced in the middle of all this Global Warming… Some may recall that during the Riders’ Meeting at the Blazing Saddles Kids’ Race a couple of weeks or so ago, I presented a Mississippi Hi-Point Enduro Riders embroidered riding jacket to our good friend Mr. Roy D. Martin, owner of the property we used for the event, and my old pal “Mouse” Kitchens, the former fellow-rider who finally convinced me to go to my first S.E.R.A. enduro (almost a quarter-century ago) and set in motion the series of events that led to my becoming the beloved Event Promoter I am today. There are people who (for various reasons) are convinced that I can actually perform miracles. I make no such claim, however, one has to consider the fact that, typically, mid-April is the time of year when nobody needs to wear a jacket to ward off the chill of things like FREEZING TEMPERATURES. Does anyone really believe that it’s just a coincidence that two gentlemen with brand new M.H.P.E.R. riding jackets have been afforded the opportunity to wear them (as opposed to just hanging them in the closet until next fall) the last day or three ???

Not that I would try to convince anyone that I might possess any ability to influence weather conditions (really, I couldn’t do something like that…).