Very cold.

Very cold here in Tokyo today. Maybe the coldest this winter. Come to think of it, the winter was much colder when I was a small kid. Every morning I crunched my way through a frost-column covered path to school. My finger tips got frostbites, swollen and turned deep purplish red. I remember how it got itchy when I warmed my hands over a glowing coal stove. The classroom was very cold except for the front row of the desks near the stove. I also remember how our breath was white whenever we opened our mouth to talk to each other.
As a scientist, I can tell you that it is a fact that Tokyo has got warm. But still I am not 100% sure about the theory that carbon dioxide is the culprit. This is just a presumption although it is also a fact that CO2 has also increased together with the average temperature of the atmosphere. When two things have a correlation, it is always difficult to determine if it's a cause or effect. Is the increase of CO2 the cause of the global warming? or only an effect? Is it not the CO2 released from the oceans when the sea water is warmed up (Solubility of gas in liquid generally decreases with increasing temperature)? In this case CO2 is the consequence of the global warming. Scientists must chase after the ultimate truth and should not be influenced by popular beliefs.
However, this problem of global warming is too big a problem to wait until the real cause is identified. Even if it's 30% guilty, its reduction is worth our all-out effort. Global warming is thus serious. I'm afraid that we are getting into a phase where it's too late. We are still talking about economic growth while the ground on which the economy stands is collapsing. Is this the mistake we have been making uncountable number of times in our history? History repeats itself but changing its forms. This time it takes the form of environmental problem.
Thanks for reading to the end.