Welcome back. We all know the climate is changing, right? I mean, with temperatures in late November which permitted the wearing of shorts and t-shirts to class and not suffering massive frostbite to appendages we have to know that something is going on. I finally saw Al Gore’s flick, “An Inconvenient Truth”, and it looks like we are all going to die.
The weather systems in the world seem to be writing their own scripts these days. Floods and droughts are bulking up, tornadoes are becoming more violent and common, huge chunks of glaciers are breaking off into the ocean and islands are losing valuable beach-front property to the rising oceans. In late December it was warm enough out to wear a light sweater in the Kansas winter and not have my blood freeze. I mean, this whole climate change must be real, as not only does Al Gore have a movie out about it, but there was also “The Day After Tomorrow.” The lovely and talented Amy Poehler of SNL was involved in a weekend update sketch about global warming causing these changes in climate, which made me believe this must be true. In Amy I trust.
Who do we have to thank, or blame, for this climate change? Why, human beings, of course. After the film I felt an anger towards the population, as well as an impending feeling of doom. Why on earth was I wasting my time watching this movie when I’m going to die in this apocalyptic climate change? Why bother doing my homework or paying off my credit card debt? Before calling it quits with society and living the life of a hermit in a cabin nestled in the woods of upstate New York, I decided to have a look at the Web site the film recommended: ClimateCrisis.net. The page has music playing, which somewhat calmed my impending sense of doom, but soon got on my nerves and had to be muted.
If you can get past the DVD endorsements and music, you can see that the site does have some information that can be useful. Some tips offered were simple: unplugging electronic equipment when not in use, recycling, planting a tree, and walking instead of driving when appropriate. Some tips seemed a little odd to me, such as wrapping my hot-water heater with a blanket or using a clothesline to dry my clothes instead of a dryer. I wasn’t aware that people still used clotheslines, but apparently they help all of us not die as soon.
The site also advocates buying fresh, local produce and eating less meat, since trucking in our daily allotment of fruits and vegetables emits damaging CO2 and cows are one of the largest producers of methane gas.
I’m not advocating unplugging everything you aren’t using or swearing off meat to become a vegan. If you want to adopt a vegan lifestyle, go for it; I’m going to continue eating grilled cheese sandwiches.
The tips offered on the site are simple enough to implement in everyday living situations, especially for college students. If you don’t like paying so much money every month for electricity, use less of it. Gas prices have been dropping recently, but that doesn’t mean we can’t walk or ride a bike those four or five blocks to get where we need to be.
These are simple things we can all do, but we just have to break away from our usual habits of living in complete comfort and ease. The message I got from the movie was that if we don’t change things we’re all going to die. Watch it for yourself and decide.
