Ebola vs. ISIS vs. Russia

Which is the scariest? It is a scary world. But, perhaps because I work in healthcare, it is Ebola that has me a little obsessed. Everyone talks as though this flare up in Africa will die down, like the other outbreaks did. That it couldn't happen here. Perhaps I have watched too many movies to believe this. Not that I think we will have the same levels of disease here, but we might have cases. And I think that it will be a very long time before it goes away in Africa.

This is the proof that knowledge counts. That education counts. That you have to educate everyone, not just the rich or the boys. Ignorance is spreading the disease- ignorance just as much as lack of resources. I like to think that we are more knowledgeable in America, but I am not sure. There are people who won't let their children be vaccinated and people who don't believe in evolution (then how do you explain antibiotic resistance).  Not to mention that we have a whole political party that won't even discuss climate change. So maybe we are not that much better in the knowledge department.

I saw a talk on CSPAN by an author last week who stated that green energy was what killed the economies of Europe, and that green energy kills economy- so that if someone even wants to discuss global warming he won't even discuss it because he is in favor of people having a job. Which is totally illogical. You can say that you are going to pursue fossil fuels until the bitter end- but still want to know what it is doing to the environment, if only so to know how to prepare or mitigate it. To figure out whether we are going to be needing to do geoengineering (and how soon) if we use up all the fossil fuels available. But also, if you think that the economy cannot survive without fossil fuels- then it certainly cannot survive without energy. And you have better be planning for the end of fossil fuels if you care about your children and grandchildren. And that probably means alternative fuels.

But it is also possible that we might need to crash the economy to save the planet (or at least keep it habitable for humans)- something that even the left-wing politicians and mainstream environmentalists don't want to say. But that could be true too. But it is easier not to know that. They can't blame us if we didn't know.

I wonder if Ebola is related to climate change, or simply to deforestation.

Time to send my money to Doctors with Borders.