Cyberstrategics

I find it interesting how governments and other organizations are focused on climate change and global warming.   Of course, the threat to our environment is real, there is little doubt about it.  However, did you ever stop to think about “real global warming”?

Although climate change is a very critical part of global warming,  I will argue in this post (in the first of a series of posts on this topic, maybe) that global warming is more deeply rooted in the increase in the temperature of individuals, families, businesses, social groups, societies, economies, nations, and cyberspace.    This increase in our global temperature, I will argue, is based on human greed and self and group-interest(s).   Global warming is much more than climate change.

Let’s start the discussion with examples related to individuals.

I have not had time to confirm my theory, but most of us know intuitively, that digesting the animal fats and heavy meats many of us consume takes more energy than digesting fruits and vegetables.    So, when we consume meats and animal fats, we increase the temperature of our bodies by some small fraction of a degree Celsius.  I don’t know the exact amount, but I suspect it is quite small.  However, if you take the entire population of meat-eaters, and multiply the slight increase in body temperature by the population of heavy animal-fat digestion-people, it is significant.

OK, I know you are thinking “so what!?”  You might stop reading at this point.  That’s OK too.  I don’t want to raise your temperature too much in this blog post!

For those of you who are still reading, let’s now look at special interest groups, in general.

There is no denying that everywhere we read the negative words, hate and strong adverse opinions toward others, both individually and collectively.  This constant war-of-ideas-and-opinions also raises the global temperature.  The person who espouses their strong opinions, hate and anger raises not only their temperature, but also the temperature of just about everyone else, by varying degrees, depending on the effects on the observer.  The topic might be a community interest story, a political opinion, a technical view point, or a religious belief.    The topic might be an argument between neighbors or two strangers who pass by on a busy street.  Or, the topic might be a reasonably small issue, and become a very hot issue amplified by news reporting or an analyst seeking recognition.

Regardless how we view the issue, global warming is much greater than just climate change.

In addition, the drive for more wealth, more profit, more sales, and more transactions increases the global temperature.    The more aggressive we are toward wealth and profit, and the more consumer-driven we are toward acquiring and keeping material wealth (and power and/or influence), the hotter our temperatures become.  Again, the effect can be seen at every level of our societies from individual aggression to corporate greed, and then on to state and national concerns.   We are all responsible for a much greater global warming than is being discussed in the press and in social commentary.

The evolution of cyberspace, instant news, blog-o-spheres, twittering opinions, email, Internet chatter, and social networks on the web, all contribute to amplify the effects of what I am calling “true global warming”.  All of our temperatures increase when we read horrible crimes, amplified and made more horrible and more emotional by the cascading effect of global consciousness, fear, envy, jealousy and hate.

It would be easy to go on-and-on in this post, and talk about every aspect of our lives where we can see the temperature rising, from litigation and courtroom battles to religious hate and mistrust.   Regardless of how we slice-and-dice the situation, global warming is not only about the climate.

Global warming is the result of the increase in temperature at every level of our world(s), both virtual and real.  Yes, there are serious climate challenges on the horizon.  However, I have argued in this post that there are equally more serious global warming challenges in our society and in our world.

So, the next time you read about global warming or “going green”, please keep in mind that the problem of temperature is much greater than turning off a light, reducing vehicle emissions, or consuming less power in the data center.  These are superficial effects of a much greater cause of global warming.

What can we do to lower the temperature of the world?

If you have read this far, thank you.  I will write on “global cooling” in a future post.

Filed under: Cyberstrategics