My son in law has recently discovered the Beatle’s. “Have you heard this music and listened to the lyrics”? All of the Mooney’s who had this interaction thought he was kidding. Unlike our daughters who were likely over exposed to the Beatles and James Taylor, Holt did not realize what he was missing. I got to listen to an entire greatest Beatles hits review as we played golf last week. If my father were alive, stereo speakers on the golf course would not be acceptable. Golf is for quiet concentration Ed would insist. The Beatles were an amazing group.
Imagine my surprise when I read a headline that many of the Beatles songs were inspired by and related to golf. Turns out, I think the article was tongue in cheek. According to the conjecture, Help is a call for compassion and guidance by Ringo to cure a dreaded golf disease-the Shank. “Let It Be’ tells the story of Paul recognizing a fixable flaw in Georges putting stroke but deciding not to tell him. “Here, There, and Everywhere” describes Paul’s erratic driving direction. If you pass this on to Fox News they may turn it into the truth.
I dwell on “Help” because our planet is calling. The intro is perfect—“
you know I need someone. When I was younger, so much younger than today—I never needed anybody’s help in any way…….and now my life has changed in oh so many ways-my independence seems to vanish in the haze”. The chorus reminds us “Help me get my feet back on the ground—won’t you please, please help me?”
Bill Nye, the science guy, is a clever person. It is estimated he has a very high IQ, he may actually be a genuine stable genius. What I find most important is he speaks clearly on topics and has a sense of humor. In a recent climate risk video, Nye suggests if your bow tie were on fire, you would seek an immediate solution—put it out. Global warming from green house gases is the fuel for our fire.
It threatens our very existence: droughts, catastrophic fires, floods, wind storms, dwindling agricultural production, the acceleration of extinction of plants and animals. We are pretty aware that CO2 emissions are a long term problem for the earth and we actually are making small progress. Nye describes the deadliest element in the short term as Methane gas. It comes from multiple sources but repairing leaking pipes and production facilities across the planet offers a quick improvement. MethaneSat is an orbiting monitor of Methane emissions. The global map shows the culprit locations. 25% of current warming is caused by Methane, a prompt solution is critical. Animal production does add methane in the atmosphere but the way to put out our bow tie is act now and enforce reductions.
It complicate things when the highest methane emitter appears to be Russia from its aging gas and oil infrastructure. However Europe, the US and China are conspicuous for our methane emissions.
Nye believes the first question for any prospective Presidential candidate should be their opinion about climate change and how we can save the planet. He has that right. It is about time the world “woke up”.
Help is not on the way soon enough unless the world acts in some unison. Help where
you can. Mike