The Real Myths of Climatic Change
Many Americans believe it’s a myth that carbon-based pollution could cause Climatic Change. In one respect, they’re right. For three thousand years, classical myths have warned in vain against the pitfalls of human nature. In Climatic Change, the following tales could lead to a future ‘myth’ that’s all too true—a tragedy about a rare and precious planet being ruined by Man’s capacity for self-delusion.
Like the people of Troy who ridiculed Cassandra for her sage advice concerning the Trojan Horse, those who’d rather embrace the convenience of burning fossil fuels than face unwanted facts are dooming others, including their children, to suffer for their folly.
Like Penelope’s suitors, those who think we can prey on Earth indefinitely without retribution will learn through Climatic Change that cause and effect — like the vengeance of Ulysses — has no regard for human convenience or beliefs.
Like Orpheus, who doomed his beloved Eurydice by considering only his point-of-view, those who insist on interpreting environmental science to conform with worldview bias may consign us all to a hellish future.
Like the thief Jason, who tricked his opponents into destroying each other rather than defend the Golden Fleece, Big Oil and its political pawns play on our hopes, fears and worldview bias to induce us to see climate hawks as threats to our convenience and comfort whereas our only hope for a quality future lay in escaping the maze of fossil fuel addiction through resolute actions sparked by unbiased thought.
Unlike the Gordian Knot, mankind’s fossil fuel dilemma is not an impossible puzzle. It is, however, a lethal Labyrinth of Man’s creation that Big Oil and politicians guard as ruthlessly as the Minotaur patrolled the famous maze. And yet, through resolve, foresight, bravery and resourcefulness, the Athenian hero Theseus slew the Minotaur and escaped the Labyrinth…the exact traits we need more than ever if we’re to emerge from this trap to a sustainable future.
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Postscript, months later:
Today I recalled another myth—perhaps the most apt of all regarding climate change.
Like the Goddess Discord, who seeded strife among her Olympian peers by tossing a golden apple in their midst with a message attached, “For the fairest,” those who profit from social discord revel in our folly as society bickers over which worldview is “the fairest” regarding climatic change: a straightforward safety issue that moves us ever closer to wrecking Earth’s climatic balance and the qualities of future lives that might be yours.
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Twice a surrogate ‘stem cells’ spokesperson for the GW Bush White House, James ended his biotech activism over the hypocrisy of worldview politics at the national level and the eco-denial of his former social allies.
Quantum Fires 
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Hope we can do something on this issue. Climate change now affects our daily life.
Thanks for caring, Michelle, and thank you for adding your comment to this site!
I’d love to see sustainable progress in our energy infrastructure, but I fear the paralysis of denial will entrench the fossil fuel status quo much too long to avoid an eco-tragedy far beyond our present crop of extreme disasters. For this reason, I focus my non-fiction and fictional writing on the psychological ploys that others use to control our minds to serve their ends.