Dumps

I am kinda down in the dumps today…..

It stems from two things,

The first is that the alarm woke me up this morning and I now have reason #456 for why I stay home rather than working a “real” job. I am a grumpy person when I get awoken by the award winning radio station of our fair city (THAT was sarcasm regarding the radio station). I much prefer to be awoken by one of my sweet little boys. But alas, the sweet little boys have gymnastics at 9:30 am on Thursdays and if we sleep until our regular after 8, it would take several small miracles to get us there on time. And given that a 5 year old and a two year old and being in a rush are a BAD combination, I must suck it up and use ye ol’ alarm clock.

The second is that I went to listen to David Suzuki last night. In the flesh although I didn’t actually get to see his flesh personally (not like that you people in the gutters… Jay!). That’s because the auditorium was full so I had to sit outside and watch him speak on TV. It was no less moving, believe me. He is a smart, smart man, way ahead of his time and not afraid to speak the truth. I have watched his program “The Nature of Things” since I was a little girl and his knowledge and ability to seamlessly discuss any topic in such a manner that you “get” it has always grabbed my attention.

He has always been an environmentalist and last night he noted that the beginning of his environmental plight began way back in 1962. This, ironically enough, is before the disposable philosophy we all seem to have adopted today took root.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not up on a soapbox here. I am not one to talk. I sometimes drive around the block to take Jack to school – in the extreme cold granted but still, not exactly helping the problem of green house gases.

But what he said really hit home. We are ruining this place we call home. And most of us don’t care because we ourselves won’t see the impact. How SELFISH are we?

Although you could argue we have already seen the impact of our ways. When I was a kid, we did lots of camping in the mountains. And we never hesitated to fill up a bottle of water from a mountainside stream.

Would we do that today?

Not likely.

Isn’t that an impact of our ways?

Ever drive by a garbage dump?
It’s beyond ridiculous to see the large mountains of crap we throw out daily. Crap that will remain in those mountains of stinking rot for 50 years or more…..

In Northern BC, you can see the effects of the pine beetle (apparently – I’ve not been there but I have read articles about this topic). At one time, they were controlled by the winter. When the cold weather hit, they died off. No more, this is called global warming folks. The beetles have now proliferated to the point that they have crossed the Rockies into Alberta. They will kill off the entire boreal forest of Canada. And nothing will stop them.

In fact, we aid them every time we start up our gas guzzling SUV’s, vans and cars and drive around the corner to the store.

THAT’s the pivotal issue. We are changing our home.

I have heard many a person say, why would I not want the earth to be warmer? (I may have even said it in a moment of weakness on a -80 kind of day).

Here’s why….

Earth is the only planet that can sustain life. It can because of the atmosphere. It’s the perfect thickness. However, we are making it thicker with our rampant burning of fossil fuels. Within the next 100 years, the earth’s average temperature will increase by 2 degrees Celsuis.

Doesn’t sound like much?

The last ice age, the average temperature was 5 degrees lower than today.

Only 5 degrees folks, and our whole country was covered in a sheet of ice a mile thick.

What will 2 degrees warmer mean?

Fried plants and animals not to mention the displacement of land with water. Those ice caps at the North and South poles gotta go somewhere.

Politicians (don’t EVEN get me started on that bunch of hot air) keep saying it’s too expensive, it will ruin the economy if we try to lower the emissions of green house gases.

PARDON ME?

The alternative is that my grandkids won’t have a world to live in.

HOW CAN WE AFFORD NOT TO?

That kinda put a damper on my mood - go figure!

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ is promoting a Nature Challenge. The challenge is to undertake 3 of the 10 things on the list to start the move toward change.

I hope we will do it.

Will you?