Clyde Compton: When is it time to draw the line in the sand?

Glaciers at the North Pole are melting at an alarming rate. Polar bears are beginning to starve because their food sources are starting to migrate south leaving them defenseless to survive. Ocean waters are rising because of the meltdown which soon will put all coastal cities in danger. Water temperatures have risen 10 degrees in the last few years which threaten all ocean life.

Along with the rise in ocean temperatures comes an increased shift of climate changes which includes a tornado shift in the continental U.S. to expand across middle and southern U.S. states causing much destruction and loss of lives. Hurricanes have increased in velocity and damage to all in their path.Scientists state that of right now 1 million species on this planet are on the verge of extinction in part due to the ravishing of our forests but also due to the pollution of our air by so-called industrial nations.

We as a people need to protect this planet not only for ourselves but for future generations to come.Unfortunately our current leadership has called this as a hoax and withdrew from the Paris climate control treaty that was signed by every nation in the world.

Earth’s temperature stayed constant for thousands of years until about 150 years ago. Only after the industrial age did scientists start to discover that temperature rise was being done by what they termed the "greenhouse effect." Simply, this is caused partly by cutting down of forests which absorb carbon dioxide gas, allowing more of it to escape into the atmosphere. The CO2 allows light to come through but keeps heat trapped.

So the more greenhouse gases that are released into our atmosphere, the more heat is trapped. Eventually the world will come to the point of no return if nothing is done. When is it time to draw the line in the sand?

Nearly 11 years ago my younger brother was living with a lady who was several years older than him (strange situation) in Phoenix, Ariz. Ever since he was young he always was a hypochondriac. Any time someone was sick he suddenly had the same symptoms. When talking to him on the phone about 11 years ago, he told me that he was having headaches nearly every day. I just thought he was crying wolf one more time.

As he was a veteran, he stated that he was going to the VA to get checked out. Later that evening, when I received his phone call, part of me crashed.I was told he had a brain tumor. Shortly after his operation at the VA hospital, I received a call from his lady friend that the operation failed and he was left a vegetable only living off machines. It seems that before his operation that he signed her as power of attorney and the hospital was suggesting to take him off the machines.

Our mother bought Jenny, my wife, and I a round-trip ticket to Phoenix to make our decision for our family. Walking into the VA hospital, I found people in a large room with only beds lined up with no walls between them and the facility was dirty. I found my brother in a small room hooked to many machines and unable to speak. But he could scribble on a chalkboard to communicate. Unable to see him that way for long I tried to find his doctor and was told that there were no physicians on duty but instead they were brought in from local hospitals. Whether they were made to or volunteered I could never find out.

I refused to consider taking him off the machines and left Phoenix disgusted. Later my brother was transported to a nursing home where he stayed for about another year when he passed away on Sept. 11th, 2009 with my mother by his side. Down thru the years, the VA has been found negligent including people heading up the program. Veterans have come back from conflicts suffering with Agent Orange, loss of limbs, hearing disorders and breathing problems caused by smoke from burning pits sitting next to incineration machines, among many other disorders.

These veterans are the ones that have put their lives on the line to protect you and I, so we would not have to go through those horrors. So, in my opinion they should be given the best health treatment that this country has to give.

So I ask you. "When is it time to draw the line in the sand?"