Climate change…global warming…ice age…whatever you want to call it, it is the hot topic in the news right now. Spearheading the charge to combat climate change is a Nordic teenager who apparently sailed across the Atlantic in her bid to avoid heating the Earth anymore. Last week, thousands of teenagers, and younger children, walked out of school and protested for climate change; last year they were protesting “assault rifles” and to increase gun control. This young lady spoke in front of the UN the other day, shaming them for doing nothing while her world burns.

I am all for speaking up for your rights, and having your causes, however, I do have a problem when young children are handed a sign and told to go out and walk for whatever cause is the hot topic of the day. As a parent, yes, you want to show your children that you care about something so passionately that you will go out and participate in protests, but do not involve the children until they are able to make up their own mind. This goes for the pink hat wearing moms, the gun control advocates, the parents for informed choice (especially in regards vaccines), climate change; by all means, go out and protest and have your voice heard, but do not drag your little children with you; they do not know what is going on and only know what they are told. Let them get educated and make their own decisions.

In regards to climate change, or global warming as it was called in the 90s and early 2000s, I remember when Al Gore said we only had about 10 years or so before the ice caps melted and Florida was completely underwater. This fear-mongering frustrates and annoys me. Every 10 to 15 years, we are told that the science is settled on the matter and the Earth is dying in front of our eyes, but when that “do or die” date approaches and passes, there is silence and the next catastrophe is brought out. I’m not buying it.

When you look at the history of the planet, you see that we go through different periods of warmth and freezing; we have all heard of the Ice Age, when glaciers covered North America, and as they receded, created the Great Lakes. What we are going through right now is a period where the Earth is getting warmer. I do not have the exact numbers in front of me, but I believe we are only about 0.1 degree warmer than back in 1900 or so. Do not quote me on that, but I know that the increase is pretty negligible.

The children and teenagers who were out protesting last week are living the most comfortable lives so far in our human history. Homes and schools have air conditioning, there are televisions in almost every room in the house and school, they have cell phones and tablets, forget walking to school or taking the bus, most of them are driven by their parents. How about we turn off the air conditioning, only using it when it is above 80, stop watching the television and head outside, put down the devices and actually communicate face-to-face, or write a letter, get moving and walk or ride a bike to school, or the park, or your friends house. There is a lot more we could be doing to combat this so called “climate crisis” that the news media is pushing on us.

Why is it so important to be comfortable all of the time? We have bigger issues than the world temperature barely rising; we have more obese, and morbidly obese, children and adults than ever before; most people are on multiple prescription drugs to “manage” the various illnesses they are afflicted with; we are a mostly sedentary population. Eating well (and I mean well, no diet pills or diet foods, none of that crap): eating plenty of meat (no, eating beef is not going to kill the planet, and meat is actually good for you), plenty of fat, avoiding grains and sugars (oatmeal is not going to help your heart, regardless of what the commercials say; sugar actually helps cancers grow), this will help with the obesity and a lot of the health problems out there. We can reduce the heart disease and diabetes and gut issues. Just cleaning up your diet will reduce your weight, no need to go to the gym and lift as much as possible. One you start eating well, you will feel better, you will start dropping the weight, you will not be exhausted, you will want to get outside and be active.

Forget the whole “climate change” drama that is being pushed. We have a bigger crisis. And if you do want to try to do something to save the planet, turn off that air conditioning, let the kids walk or ride their bikes around the neighbourhood, turn off that television, and be a good role model.