Whether You Believe In Climate Change Or Not
Today, October 15th 2009, is Blog Action Day with the theme of Climate Change. I hope this post is able to contribute some small part to help raise awareness about this important issue.
Whether You Believe Or Not
There are people that passionately believe global warming is real. And there are those that just as strongly disagree with the concept entirely.
It’s actually quite interesting to consider how awareness for climate change has grown in the U.S. since the 1930s. First, it took a considerable amount of time to reach some level of scientific agreement about the problem. Then it took even more time to build up public awareness around the issue to the point where political action was seriously being sought and demanded.
It’s actually quite amazing how far we’ve come just since Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006. This year (2009), there are high hopes for some monumental outcomes arising from International talks at a United Nations meeting in Copenhagen this December. Check out 350.org for more information on the CO2 goals for this Treaty as well as the “day of action” planned on October 24th, 2009 to drum up even more support for a favorable CO2 Treaty Agreement.
But aside from the climate change awareness movement, the best way that I would respond to any naysayers of global warming is that we should care about our environment regardless of whether global warming or climate change will ever hit crisis levels.
Is there ever really any excuse to abuse or have a lack of appreciation for the gifts of nature around us? Consider the simple beauty of sunsets, mountains, beaches, forests, gardens, waterfalls, fruit, vegetables, clean drinking water, etc. How much would we miss them if they were gone?
Whether climate change is a real issue or not, I think we can agree that it makes sense to take care of the environment around us, to use materials that are bio-degradable and environmentally friendly, if even just to slow the growth of landfills and to keep our air and drinking water clean.
Even though it is quite common to recycle plastics, to use efficient light bulbs, and waste less energy, I believe there is still a lot of “low-hanging fruit” in our lives where more can be done with minimal effort and meaningful impact.
I care about the environment. I’m not a fanatic. I do use plastics more than I should (they are so undeniably convenient). But I also do make an effort to recycle as much as I can, too. I am getting more and more educated and aware about the environment and the human impact on it. Alongside the big changes that government policy can achieve, I realize that small changes add up and can make a meaningful difference, too.
While change often never happens until there is a crisis to jolt us out of our comfort zones, I’m glad to see climate change awareness growing. I look forward to the days when appreciation for the world around us is something that we no longer have to teach, that it is something that comes second nature to us, something that we don’t need to question, something that we just do because it is the right thing for the current moment and for future generations as well.
