Today I was reading about limnic eruptions. These are huge CO2 eruptions that displace air and can kill people and animals, suffocating them within minutes of the eruption. Interestingly enough, these occur from lakes.

That’s right, lakes. If a lake is meromictic, meaning it doesn’t naturally mix itself, it can build up lots of CO2 in it’s colder, more pressurized bottom layers. Then, if something triggers it, the CO2 basically explodes like a shook-up can of soda and displaces air, rapidly suffocating people within the blast radius.

While this is all the makings of an awesome horror mystery (it’s already swirling in my head of how to work this into an Evil Pin Club story or a film or comic or something), it made me think about diversity.

The more and more we’re exposed to different people from different backgrounds and different ways of thinking and living, the better off we are. It’s creating a more inclusive world view.

I’d argue that it’s less about being a “coastal elite” that makes coast cities (SF, Portland, NYC, etc.) more progressive, but that due to the high level of international travel and immigration, people living in these zones are exposed to more diversity.

It’s much more difficult hating a group of people when you know people within that group. I would venture that the more one is exposed to new ideas and different ways of living, the more one begins to wonder how much truth stereotypes actually have, and then can begin to deconstruct those beliefs and start seeing others as real people.

Just as a lake is more dangerous when it just sits there, we all are more dangerous and more intolerant the less we experience other ways of living.