A recent climate study suggests global warming is in full effect and getting worse. From 100-degree summers to diseases gone amok, the U.S. Global Change Research Program warns that Americans will soon stand face-to face with a planet in serious peril. Look, I appreciate the updates and warnings. I do, I do. But truth be told, I don't need any more updates. I get it. One day it's cold, the next day it's warm; the following day it starts off cold and then ends with house-shaking thunder and torrential downpours and a thirty percent chance of snow.
This is what I need to know: why do we need to keep hearing about it? Is the government required to provide friendly reminders of a chaos-to-come? Are the updates really coded messages suggesting for folks to stop having babies, pack up the goods and head to the mountains? Is it a ploy from the pharmaceutical industry to keep Americans stressed so we can continue to pill-pop and remain slaves to prescriptions? The climate is crazy, yes, but what do these updates provide besides stress?
Keith Josef Adkins is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and social commentator.