Earth Day

Earth Day, finally a holiday we can get behind. To me Earth Day means to remember the planet that sustains us, remember that it can be used up, remember to be good to it so that future generations will also be able to enjoy what we do.

I have been doing a little reading, An Inconvenient Truth, to be exact. (Yes, I saw the movie, but I am one of those people who learn more by reading than by watching. I retain way more information that way.) Here are a few interesting facts that I gleaned from the book.

Fact #1- Global warming affects all aspects of the Earth, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean.
What this means is that not only are we warming our air, but we our warming our oceans and everything in between. This means that coral reefs are dying, which means ocean life will be dramatically effected. It means that the delicate balance of our ecological system will be drastically re-structured, for example: warmer weather means more mosquitoes, in more areas of the Earth, for longer periods of time. And finally because we are warming our air, all of our glaciers, and even our permafrost, (so named because we thought they would be around permanently) are melting. This will result in higher sea levels and the displacement of millions of people. (Including, but not limited to the whole bottom half of Florida)

Fact #2- There have always been changes like this on our Earth, but none have been at this drastic of a rate.
I believe in evolution, I also believe that it is inevitable. But do I believe that we should sit back and watch the world as we know it come to an end. No.

"An astonishing number of people go straight from denial to despair without pausing on the intermediate step of - We can do something about this."

-Al Gore

There were many interesting facts but I will leave it at three. Not to go all political on you, but in fact this has become not only a moral issue, but a political one as well.

Fact #3- Phillip Cooney. He was the chief of staff of the Environment Office, hired by George W. Bush in January 2001. His previous job for 6 years before being appointed, American Petroleum Institute lobbyist in charge of global warming disinformation. His qualifications to head the Environmental office for the U.S. you ask? None, "even though he had no scientific training whatsoever he was hired by the Bush administration to edit and censor the official assessments of global warming from the EPA and other parts of the government." What happened to him? He was ratted out nationally through the New York Times for "diligently editing out any mention of the dangers that global warming posed to the American people." He resigned due to embarrassment of the White House Administration, the very next day he went to work for Exxon Mobil.
I don't know what you want to make of your President, but it's no secret that he profits greatly from the confusion of the American people in regards to global warming. Now I know I said only three facts, but let me talk about one more thing.

I made mention above of Cooney's role as a lobbyist in charge of global warming disinformation. Al Gore relates this role to one we are all aware of now, the dangers and effects of nicotine. He goes on to state that there was a similiar group of lobbyists back in the day who tried to convince, confuse, and understate these effects to the American people. Sound familiar? So does this mean in another 50 years we will all get to sue Bush and his cohorts for the misleading information he is propagating concerning global warming. Or does it just mean that it will take us that long to react to this concern as well?

" The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." -Winston Churchill, 1936.


In this age of reason, I find it atrocious that one could even think it beyond humans to cause the mass destruction that we have to our planet. The whole of the scientific community is in agreement as to what is causing this change to our environment no matter what facts our administration is distorting, .... it is us. We have a responsibility as a people to change our habits. We will be leaving this planet to our future generations and they will be inheriting nothing of worth. We as a country have recently shifted our attitudes and opinions towards the obesity crisis, we are doing as much damage to Earth as we are to our bodies. We might get ourselves back in shape, but it will do us no good if our planet's health is faltering. It is not a cliche , Earth Day is every day.

Teach: anyone and everyone about the harm we are causing.
Inspire: people by living your life "green"
Look Up: ways to become more active, it's as easy as a few keystrokes away
Pledge: to make one "green" change
Watch: An Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed the Electric Car?, and yes, even 300
and hopefully these movies will inspire you to be more than you already are, they did for me.



And for all your kiddies, if you haven't found the site already.

Books are rad.