How Can I Help and Be Good to Our Planet?

I am originally from the northeast and reserve a soft spot in my heart for the people and places connected to my early beginnings. Many inhabitants in that area are still hurting in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I am doing what I can to support these dear friends, neighbors, and family and made a donation earmarked for Sandy flood relief. My heartfelt thanks go out to the volunteers and helping professionals who are involved in the cleanup efforts. For those of you who can lend a hand and haven’t done so already, you’ll find a link below to charities that are working to raise funds for this worthy cause.

 http://www.charitywatch.org/hottopics/sandy_2012.html 

However, this disaster reminds me that global warming is accelerating at an alarming rate. Note the report below.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-17/north-america-has-biggest-rise-in-weather-catastrophes.html

For a visual, check out the YouTube video from National Geographic that demonstrates this phenomenon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHFd5kLAwNY

After reading reports of the recent Philippines’ Typhoon, Bopha and its resultant 300 deaths, I followed the dots from this disaster to global warming. I also linked climate change to the scores of severely hungry Haitians, who have been hit hard by an unusually active storm season. The severe drought and unprecedented heat waves in the U.S. Midwest and Southwest have taken its toil in economic uncertainty, soil erosion, and created a deteriorating atmosphere. Parched earth, clouds of dust, and increased cases of asthma and other breathing difficulties are results I personally attribute to global warming.

 www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2012/h2012_Bopha.html

news.msn.com/world/widespread-hunger-in-haiti-after-storms-study-finds

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/scientists-weigh-in-on-global-warmings-role-in-us-drought/

I question whether the American dream should still incorporate the ideal that each citizen or business is entitled to live in a style they have become accustomed to. Is making the decision to walk to work, carpool, bike, or take mass transportation too much of a sacrifice for the good of our planet? Is limiting green- house gas emissions only good for the other guy or company? 

It’s important to look at my behavior and create ways to conserve fossil fuel by cutting back, recycling, and when necessary, buying local. Can I influence what happens in the world and can I make an impact on whether there is an inhabitable planet to leave to my offspring and generations to come? I ponder this thought and realize I can carpool more often, walk instead of ride, and purchase only those appliances that are energy efficient.

I hope I will do my share to decrease the level of pollution. Who knows? My action now may prevent a catastrophe and prevent a death in an economically deprived place, where that person can’t turn up an air conditioning and dies as a result of weather extremes. 

I believe without voluntary behavior modification now in regard to commercial and personal fossil fuel use, there will be a day in the near future when we will have mandatory rationing of fuel, water, food, and air or suffer extinction. One sample of government sanctions were imposed through gas rationing following Hurricane Sandy. 

My wish and prayer is that increasing numbers of people will wake up to the truth of global warming. What can you do or have done to improve the quality of life on the earth?  Please share about it. Click on the white comment box under this blog post to express your views.

The quote for today is: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” Native American Proverb