Today is Blog Action Day ’09 and the focus this year is on Climate Change. Something very important to us here at Resolutions LLC and something that should be important to everyone. The problem is that there are some people out there who don’t believe that climate change is happening due to anything we as humans are doing but it’s just the earth doing what it has always done. These people treat this not as an environmental or social issue but as a political issue.
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and asked her opinion of global warming. That got her motor running. She told me we couldn’t work together anymore if I believed that (a joke) and then we bantered back and forth about our views on this subject. During our discussion It came to me that she was just uninformed about the subject. She was treating the issue as a political issue. The largest issue to her and some others is that they feel like it’s a way for the government to tax them. The funny thing is, by ignoring global warming we will end up paying more than this phantom tax would ever take from us. And not just in money but in lives, jobs and quality of life.
There are almost 9,000 sites that will be blogging about climate change today. Most will have done serious research and give facts and figures and will be truly great essays about climate change. I encourage you to seek these out and educate yourself. For a lot of people the idea of climate change is almost too much to grasp. We need to focus on what we can do as individuals. So instead of trying to save the world lets focus on saving ourselves.
The NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) has a five-step plan to help solve global warming and I feel that is is a great way that we as individuals and businesses can do our part.
1. Set limits on global warming pollution
2. Invest in green jobs and clean energy
3. Drive smarter cars
4. Create green homes and buildings
5. Build better communities and transportation networks.
Lets run through these.
1. Set limits on global warming pollution
By setting limits, our energy producers will need to look in other areas for ways to generate energy such as solar, wind and biomass. In my neck of the woods Southern Company has been investing in biomass and I am sure is looking into other options.
2. Invest in green jobs and clean energy
Jobs and more jobs. There are many skilled people in this country whose jobs have gone overseas. By investing in green jobs and clean energy we can employ those hard working Americans. Face it, you can’t ship a green job overseas. After so many miles that job or product ceases to become green.
3. Drive smarter cars
The next time you buy a car you should consider a more fuel-efficient car. Not only will it save you money when you drive it but you will also help reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Most of these countries we buy our oil from treat their citizens horribly. You don’t need the skills of your own people if you are making a lot of money from your oil. And finally, whether you believe in peak-oil or not, gas prices will rise over the next few years and decades.
4. Create green homes and buildings
Resolutions is a member of the USGBC (United States Green Building Council), a non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation. They have been training architects and certifying them as LEED accredited for awhile now. As more and more people become skilled at green design and make energy-efficient buildings we will reduce our energy usage, reducing carbon in the atmosphere and saving us money. According to Architecture 2030, we have the technology to design buildings to use 50% to 80% less energy than we are doing now. I am starting to sense a theme.
5. Build better communities and transportation networks.
The trend during the last century was to build far-flung car-dependent suburban towns. By rethinking how we need to live we can build a better community. One that we can walk in, meet our neighbors and get back to the original social networking. And guess what? We shorten drive times, create less pollution, reduce our dependency on oil and save ourselves money.
So lets summarize what you get from combating climate change. New green industries creating new green jobs. Actual money savings from energy efficient homes, better quality of life, fuel-efficient cars and reduce our dependency on foreign nations that don’t like us.
This is just a start. As you educate yourself you will find more and more ways you can make a positive impact on the globe and your wallet. Don’t look at the battle against climate change as some flash-in-the-pan, hippie love-the-earth movement. This is a way to create new jobs and industries, a way to reduce our dependency on foreign nations and create a better life for our children. This is nation building.
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