Living As If We Really Understand Global Warmiing

by Larry Menkes

LIVING AS IF WE REALLY UNDERSTAND GLOBAL WARMING

I often wonder about my environmental-minded friends. I know you're all doing something to lessen our impact on Mother Earth. I'm doing some things too. But are we living as if we really understand how serious our situation is?

I've been following environmental news since the early 1960's. Stories about the ozone holes and greenhouse effect were alarming. In the 1980's chunks of ice as big as Rhode Island were breaking free from Antarctica. In the nineties all but three of the world's glaciers were retreating and the chunks in Antarctica were as big as Connecticut.

In the last few years the fabled Northwest Passage has been ice free in the summer. Scientists who were once skeptical of global warming now predict that the Arctic Ocean will soon be nearly ice-free in the summer.

Does the seashore have to move to Philadelphia before we take serious action? When the ice gets so thin we should know where we're standing when we step out of the problem. Few of us know the size of our personal carbon footprint on this planet.

To make that essential calculation go to www.nativeenergy.com. and click on the Carbon Calculator on the left side of their home page. Their Offset your Travel Today! link helps you calculate the CO2 emissions from your travels as well. NativeEnergy can even help you build a new Native American owned wind farm and keep unhealthful global-warming pollution out of the air.

After you've found out how many renewable energy credits you need to offset your footprint you can log on to www.powerscorecard.org or www.GoCleanEnergy.com to compare the various electricity providers Then chose one and sign up. The more energy you're using the more offsets you need to buy.

You can reduce your footprint by making intelligent choices in the energy consuming products you buy. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (www.aceee.org) can help you with that. They, along with Consumer's Union, have the latest information on energy efficient appliances and techniques. If you have a gashog replace it with a vehicle that gets great mileage. You'll have cause to celebrate when gasoline goes to $10 a gallon. And if you get that car soon you'll already have it when that happens. At least then you'll be able to afford the drive to the grocery store. If you hang on to the gasoline money you saved until then you'll even be able to afford the groceries. Most of our food is made and transported with petroleum.

But there's a first simple step that we can take to call ourselves part of the solution. We can replace ALL of our incandescent light bulbs with high efficiency lamps like long-lasting compact fluorescents or the new LED bulbs. Lighting is 20% of our household energy bill and incandescent bulbs waste about 70% of the energy used to light them.
Another simple step is to turn down the thermostat a bit in the winter and up in the summer. A digital seven-day programmable thermostat (www.luxproducts.com/thermostats) can help.

If you forget to turn off the lights when you leave a room occupancy sensors will help. Pets do fine in the dark and sensors can scare burglars away. Once you've done this much you will have discovered what to do next. And, now you'll be an example to others.

This holiday season, give gifts that keep on giving. How about a Ton of CO2 offsets from www.nativeenergy.com/cardpage.htm. Or, a compact fluorescent light bulb that can save up to $50 or more in electricity during the life of the bulb. See what's available at www.lightsofamerica.com. LED holiday lights last forever and consume a tenth of the energy used by conventional ones. You might save enough to cover the cost of a bottle of Dom Perignon for News Years Eve. That's at www.moet.com; enjoy!