Global Warming: Taking Action
NYTS Package Includes Pieces By and About Al Gore- The New York Times Syndicate (NYTS) is offering a package to mark Al Gore’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize this past Friday.
Included is a 1,400-word commentary by the former vice president titled “Moving Beyond Kyoto,” and a 1,000-word piece by NYTS columnist Christopher Hitchens titled “Now That Gore Has Won the Nobel Peace Prize, Will He Run for President?”
In his article, Gore writes that global warming “is not a political issue. This is a moral issue, one that affects the survival of human civilization. It is not a question of left versus right; it is a question of right versus wrong. Put simply, it is wrong to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours.”
These things are clear:
(1) We can stop talking about climate change as if it’s being done to us and we can start to take responsibility for it. We are doing “it” to ourselves and to our planet.
We’re all addicted to using energy - to burning carbon and to changing the way our life support system - the planet we live on - is functioning. So the first step is for all of us to come out of denial and acknowledge that this is something that we are doing and it is something that we can stop doing.
(2) After that, there are practical things we can all do. We can pressure all the people that we do business with to take account of climate change in their products they make and the processes they use to make them.
(3) We can purchase things that take less energy not only to make but also to deliver to our stores and shopping centers.
(4) At home, at work and at the places we go to to “unwind” we can choose to think about the energy costs of what we do and then choose to live a less energy-intensive lifestyle.
(5) We can pressure, our politicians and the energy supply industry to give us the green alternatives which are possible and which we all need.
(6) We can raise our children to be less energy consumptive than we have been.
(7) In essence, we can choose to become a part of the solution rather than continuing to only be part of the problem.
Related posts:
Climate Campaigners Tipped for Nobel Peace Prize
Rally Planned to Protest Gore Suzuki Presentation
David Suzuki and Al Gore in Vancouver
Oct 16th, 2007 at 12:09 am
friend brightfeather, I really appreciated the opportunity to read this and the previous two posts. I joined WP . com and became aware of you after you closed your environmental blog. Your impassioned comments upon doing so moved me. Being involved in an activity which continually depressed you was obviously not the way to go. And now, after some months away, you are able to give us all this really useful content and educational sidebar material.
I rejoice in your talent in bringing balance to this issue and to your life. Thank you.
Oct 16th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Thanks so much for your kindness. I really felt that I was rapidly reaching a “burned out” stage as an environmental blogger. Most distressing of all to me was watching the evolution of “leading” environmental blogs that became covered paid advertising for psuedo green products. Of course I will always remain an environmentalist and I do continue to work in my own community for change but further afield than that I’m no longer willing to travel.