“Man, I am warm today!”, said the Earth to the Moon

I am not one to get on a soap box, but I think the issue of global warming is important and I want to share a few things about it.

Recently I saw a movie that opened my eyes and I suggest that everyone that lives on planet Earth go and see it. You may or may not agree with everything that is presented, but that does not matter because it does a very good job of getting you the fact. These facts will compel you, like it did me, to learn more about this and what can be done. The movie is “An Inconvenient Truth”.

There are times when information is presented to you and you come away not agreeing or disagree with it, but it give you a moment of pause. That pause enabled you to go to a place that make you think and ask questions. It is the same place that those really good ideas are made.

Questions are a way that we as people learn things. The issue of global warming creates lots and lots of questions. Some are so large in scale we cannot fathom who to ask let along what the answers are. Why does it happen? Who has done it? It is so large, can we solve the problem? All of these seem to be so far out of reach, we seem to get lost in the scale of the issue. After all, we are talking about the Earth.

But there are things we can do. There in fact ten things that are simple and you, me, everyone can do right now to help stop global warming.

Change a Light

replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 50 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year

Drive Less

Walk, bike or take mass tranist more often. You will save one pound of CO2 for every mile that you do not drive

Recycle More

You can save 2,400 pounds of CO2 per year if you recycle just half of your household waste

Check your Tires

Keeping tires inflated properly improves gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon saved keeps 20 pounds of CO2 from warming the Earth

Use Less Hot Water

Use less hot water. Turn down your hot water heater a few degrees. Use a low flow showerhead, that will save 350 pounds of C02 per year, wash your clothes in cold water ( that is the only way I learn out to wash from my Mom — she was saving 500 pounds of CO2 per year )

Avoid Products with a lot of packaging

You can save 1,200 pounds of CO2 just by reducing your garbage by 10%

Adjust your thermostat

Move your thermostat down 2 degrees in the winter and up 2 degrees in the summer. This could save 2,000 pounds of CO2 a year

Plant a tree

A single tree will absorb one ton, that is 2,000 pounds, of CO2 over the its lifefime. So you should plant two or three

Be part of the solution not the problem

Educate yourself. Become aware of the issue. Do your part, it is really easy and will not impact your life but could impact the lives of future generations

There are lots of places that you can learn more about global warming. Visit Climite Crisis to learn more. The “ten things to do” above came from them. Read about global warming at EcoWorld. Read this story, Global Warming — IS IT REAL, ARE HUMANS THE CAUSE, AND CAN ANYTHING BE DONE?.

Learn about other ideas and technology. Use your mind, think of the impact of your actions and use the moment of pause — I know what I can do help and I will do it!