Get Your Green On!

Is Environmentalism the strongest element pushing us as people into a new era of living and existence?  I think that there is a lot of strength behind this idea.  Every new era was started by a new way of thinking on a global scale, and environmentalism definitely meets this requirement.

In the last 20 years a strong push has been made to make people aware of the negative global effects that our consumerism and gross neglect of natural resources will have long term on our planet.  Initially it was just grass roots political groups trying to spread the word, but it has now turned into a huge movement that has gotten the attention of not only the hard to win over United States Government but also has gotten global attention in Countries all across the globe. 

Al Gore held an amazing TED Talk that was so informative about the effects of Global Warming and how it is affecting us today and how it will continue to affect our futures.  Global Warming is a subject that many people have tried to deny as a phenomenon that has no scientific basis when in reality all you have to do is watch the news to see how Global Warming is affecting us today.  Anyone how wants to put down Global Warming as a current issue that has drastic implications for Earths future I say “OPEN YOUR EYES!”  Our storm systems are continuing to get more extreme with more category 5 hurricanes, and more thunderstorms producing F-5 Tornadoes that are leading to hundreds of deaths every single year.  If you want to argue that temperatures are not rising then clearly you haven’t gone outside lately because the overall trend is warming and that is happening everywhere.  Many states in the United States are having record setting temperatures in summer months and having even milder winters that are producing less snow each year.  This is only the beginning, with warmer temperatures crops across the world are being destroyed which is causing fluctuations in food costs, which directly affects global consumerism.  Global Warming is happening and people need to wake up and do their part to help slow down this process.  The earth may have a cycle pattern of warming and cooling’s but not on this scale.

            The next aspect of Environmentalism is our gross negligence on how we utilize natural resources.  Rainforests are being exploited and torn down leaving hundreds of species of animals homeless and is reducing that valuable ecosystem in ruins.  People are careless on how they use materials and energy and just think that it is an endless resource when this couldn’t be further from the truth.  But how can we expect people to change their behavior overnight when humans forever have always viewed what the world has to offer as up for the taking?  We have to start changing our ways of living and teaching our future generations about the importance of reducing our use, reusing what we can, and recycling items so that they can be recreated into new items rather than using already depleted resources to create the same products. 

I remember when I was growing up in the early 90’s and there were always paper towels in public bathrooms, and you had to manually turn faucets off and on. Now just about anywhere you go there are recycled air machines to dry off your hands, and the majority of faucets in public places are sensor triggered and only stay on for a short period to reduce the wasting of water.  Coffee companies have jumped on the environmental train of thought and have made all their cups from recycled materials and have even created an inexpensive reusable cup to encourage their patrons to help them in do their part in reducing waste.  In schools they are using recycled paper materials.  We have also gone back to a traditional method of getting food from local farms rather than relying on food from other countries.  By choosing locally grown food we are lower emissions and the cost that is spent to feed people locally.  Why do we need to eat a peach from South America when we grow them here in California?  Another new way to lower emissions and the dependency on fossil fuels was the creation of hybrid energy efficient vehicles.  They have even gone a step further and created 100% electric vehicle to help reduce emissions being released into the atmosphere.  All of these changes are drastically different from how we use to live our lives and the trend is only picking up momentum as more and more people start to understand the implications for our future generations and what kind of world we may be leaving them to exist in.  So do your part in whatever way possible and help solve this out of control problem and help reduce your Carbon Foot Print!