Green Tip #46: Global Warming is Good

Let's talk about viruses. Ah yes, the unassuming little things that have killed more people than all the serial killers in the world combined. With all of the talk about H1N1 and HIV and SARS and Keanu Reeves' acting career, I figure I should address how these very simple organisms are able to infect perfectly good hosts (or movies) and reek havoc causing mayhem and destruction.

So a virus is basically a little sac of DNA that latches onto a perfectly healthy cell and injects this DNA into the host. The host cell then dies and new viruses rupture out of the cell's corpse like the monster from 'Alien' popped out of the guy's chest. Then the new viruses go on to infect other cells. This cycle repeats itself until the host organism's defenses are able to fight back. (No, lining up colored pills on the viruses is not one of the body's defenses. 10 points to anyone who gets that reference.) One of the ways that the host fights back is by raising its body temperature, thus giving it a fever. This increased body temperature makes a hostile environment for the viruses and helps to speed up the virus's demise. Usually the body is able to fight off the virus, other times the host doesn't survive and the virus is trapped in the dead host and eventually is starved for living cells and dies out itself. Ha, stupid virus, it loses either way!

But wait... If you think back to the movie 'The Matrix,' (I've mentioned it before in Green Tip #2 when referring to how robots will take over the world) you'll remember how Agent Smith compares humans to a virus. We've essentially broken past the limits that nature naturally (isn't everything in nature natural?) sets for species that makes populations decline when resources are scarce. We kept expanding beyond our resources and now have no natural predators.

Go us, right? No, not quite... If you think of planet earth as an organism, it would be safe to say that Global Warming is her getting a fever trying to kill us off. Yup, the human race is now officially those drunk people that don't realize they're being completely inappropriate at weddings and won't take a hint that they should leave. We're unwanted...

But it doesn't have to end this way. What if we were to mutate (so to speak) into a harmless strain? Even better yet, what if we took a cue from the adeno-associated virus type 2? This virus infects humans and other primates and causes no known disease. Better yet, some studies have shown that this virus can actually help to fight some forms of cancer.

So Green Tip #46 is this: let's use Global Warming as a challenge for us to be better viruses. Think about what actions to you take and whether you're acting like HIV or more like AAV2. Let's hope for all of our sakes that you choose AAV2.