Have you heard?
According to numerous sources reporting on an analytical study of satellite imagery, Earth is actually greener than it has been in about 30 years!
That of course sounds like solid evidence upon which climate skeptics can form arguments that favour taking no action to curb rampant emissions, which are ceaselessly spewed by human activity around the world.
"There you have it. Perhaps we need to emit even more CO2 to make the planet greener!" such a claim might sound like.
"Trump must have been right all along ó fire up the coal mines!"
But not so fast.
There's far more to this headline than meets the eye. Further analysis of the phenomenon reveals there are negative effects that far outweigh the "positive" effect of greening the earth a bit more.
Essentially going through a massive growth spurt fuelled by the excess CO2, plant life has been observed in places like Australia to essentially drain crucial water sources bone dry.
Without a sustainable water source, plant life in the long run won't exactly, well, flourish.
"Australia is already a parched country and will only become drier as the planet warms and rainfall decreases," reads a 2015 www.newscientist.com article called "Carbon emissions make Earth greener but are also drying it out."
So if we prefer and are prepared to welcome with open arms more droughts and extreme weather patterns around the globe, then let us do absolutely nothing and simply support the status quo. After all, most of us won't even be here once things get really interesting 50-100 years from now, so the next generations can worry about it.
But should we perhaps actually be compelled to as much as possible collectively make the effort to reduce pollution and set the example for future generations, we would instead leave our descendents a cleaner legacy of sustainable living and wiser resource management.
We can't just off-load our responsibilities to our home ó the Earth ó because other nations pollute more. Besides, does not anyone see the irony in blaming Chinese industry for polluting, considering that country is basically just fulfilling the endless demand of the Western consumer lifestyle?
Perhaps if there was less demand for slave ó I mean, sweatshop labour ó there would be less factories endlessly spewing pollution in the name of profit.
Aside from buying fewer plastic products that deep down we know are destined to be discarded and completely forgotten before long, there are other ways to reduce our impact.
We're fortunate enough in Sundre to have a forward-thinking council that has taken measures to facilitate our ability to greatly reduce the amount of waste that goes to the landfill.
Ever since town officials commendably decided to roll out a blue recycling bin service to complement the municipality's existing compost program ó at no additional cost mind you ó my household of two has recycled and composted the vast bulk of our waste.
The large black garbage bin is barely ever even half full after three weeks when the pickup comes around. The compost generally fills about a third to half, while the recycling bin is usually just about full, although it occasionally runs out of room.
We also try to minimize our use of water and electricity, and have only run our gas fireplace once for a gathering.
Those who already are taking similar steps ó I know you're out there! ó are setting what will hopefully become the standard norm as our species works towards harmonizing itself with the Earth's ecosystems.
Until then, let us be wary of allowing ourselves to believe that a short-term "benefit" of unleashing into the atmosphere massive amounts of CO2 outweighs the impending long-term impacts that will lead to increasingly chaotic and costly climate catastrophes.
