The Fight to Stop Global Warming Heats Up

Tonight I received the following email. (Many of you probably already know this because I immediately forwarded it onto you!)

Now I will admit that I opened it because "Al Gore" was listed as the sender. I mean, believe it or not I don't get email everyday from a former President-elect. And once I read it, I knew I had to pass it on to as many people as I could.

So here is a copy of the email I sent to several of the people in my address book, followed by the email I received from Al. Please take it to heart. Our very lives depend upon it.

From Nancy:
As we all know global warming is quite possible the issue of our time and will define us as a generation to our children and grandchildren. There is no more time to waste, so Mr. Gore is going to Congress in a few weeks to continue his work in slowing, and eventually stopping, global warming. It's not a political issue - it's one that affects our very survival and the survival of our beautiful planet.

So please take action and provide Al with a stack of signatures so big he'll need an army to carry the boxes up the steps of the Capitol on March 21st.

Don't be one of those people who regrets later that they stood by and did nothing.



From Mr. Gore:
On March 21st, I'll hand-deliver your message to Washington when I testify at Congressional hearings on the climate crisis.

Can you commit to finding 10 friends to send a message to Congress demanding immediate action?

Ask them to visit:

http://algore.com/cards.html


Dear Nancy,

When the producers of An Inconvenient Truth first approached me with the concept for the film, I was skeptical. Could we really take a slideshow about the climate crisis and turn it into a compelling movie? Davis Guggenheim’s Oscar win for best documentary and a second one for Melissa Etheridge’s beautiful song “I Need to Wake Up” was a testament to their ability, but it was also a testament to you.

It was you who packed the theaters and got your friends to go see this film, greatly increasing the audience. And then this past December, it was you who connected through MoveOn.org and AlGore.com to attend An Inconvenient Truth viewing parties. At those parties and in the weeks that followed, nearly 200,000 of you wrote to Congress, demanding that they address the climate crisis like the planetary emergency that it is.

Even though I have been a life-long movie fan, I didn’t really understand how big of an audience a movie could reach. And of course I never would have imagined in a million years that a movie that I was a part of would receive two Academy Awards—or one—or would have ever been made in the first place! As humbling as this moment is, An Inconvenient Truth will only succeed if it drives all of us to take action. That’s why I’m asking you to join me in the next stage of our fight. On March 21st, I'm going to hand-deliver the messages you signed when I testify at Congressional hearings on the climate crisis.

This is an incredible opportunity to demonstrate to Congress that we demand immediate action. And I need your help to really make this moment count. Can you commit to getting 10 friends to send their message to Congress through AlGore.com before March 21st? The more voices I can bring to Washington, the more powerful our message will be.

To get your friends involved, just forward them this note or direct them to:

http://algore.com/cards.html

There is no longer a debate about the fact that global warming is real. We're causing it. The consequences are serious, and could be headed towards catastrophe if we don’t fix it. And it's not too late. I don't want to imagine a future in which our children say, “What were our parents thinking?” “Why didn't they wake up when they had a chance?” And I know you don’t either.

The hundreds of thousands of you who signed messages to Congress showed me what's possible. Working together we can unite millions of people and build support for real action on a scale that has never been seen before.

Help me take the first step and fill up that hearing room with your signatures. That picture alone will send a powerful message.

Can you commit to getting ten more people to send messages to Congress demanding action to stop global warming?

http://algore.com/cards.html

I’m looking forward to working with you on this monumental task.

Thank you,

Al Gore


So stop just reading about this catastrophe waiting to happen - do something! Start by adding your signature and telling your representatives in Congress that we cannot wait any longer for real solutions to global warming. And while you're at it, find out what you can do in your own life to lessen the destruction of our Mother Earth. (You can start by going to see An Inconvenient Truth if you haven't already done so. It will blow you away.)

While My Brain Synapses Reconnect

It's been quite a week here at our new homestead. We moved in officially a week ago today and on Sunday morning my four-year-old woke up puking and it's been a blur of toxic illness ever since. So far my husband is the only one who hasn't suffered the germ warfare that has been waged in our precious new home and if he makes it through tomorrow unscathed we should be in the clear. (For a couple of weeks at least . . .)

Anyway, I'm still a little scattered at the moment, but was feeling a bit of withdrawal having not written more than a grocery list this week. So here are some random thoughts floating around in my head -

• I just read this amazing column by one of my favorite authors and political activists, Howard Zinn, in this month's edition of The Progressive. Truly, it was inspiring. While Zinn's call for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney is not new, his ideas about how to go about it are. He believes in a grassroots effort - individual communities holding their own impeachment meetings across the country - in order to persuade those on Capitol Hill who are unwilling, for whatever reason, to do what is necessary in holding these war criminals responsible for their actions. He points out that the American Revolution did not just instantaneously begin one day in response to tyranny, but it was ordinary people holding town meetings and writing pamphlets about the injustices they were all suffering that brought about the conflict by which the U.S. gained its independence. I guess what I'm saying is, if you get the chance, read it.

• I read another "interesting" piece today . . . Apparently, Exxon Mobil sat at the top of the capitalist pyramid in 2006 recording (read stealing) the biggest profit of any company last year - a whopping $39.5 billion. And while you and I shelled out over $3/gallon for gas this summer Exxon Mobil buddies in the oil and gas industry Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Marathon Oil Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. "also reported best-ever full-year profits. The four companies combined had earnings of $75.6 billion last year." And ConocoPhilips topped its 2005 profits by about $2 billion in 2006. Well, isn't that nice. Excuse me. I think I'm going to be sick again.

• NEWSFLASH: Global Warming Isn't a Hoax!! Yes, yet another panel of "experts" have come forward, this time in Paris, to announce that global warming does in fact seem to be happening and that, yes, it appears that human beings are to blame for it. Imagine that. If only someone had told us sooner . . .

• And last, but certainly not least, I want to make everyone aware that February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the number one killer of women and in the U.S. someone loses a mother, a sister, an aunt or a cousin every minute to cardiovascular disease. So it's time to start taking care of ourselves, ladies! Many of these heart conditions are preventable by maintaining healthy eating habits, getting plenty of exercise and getting regular checkups with our doctors. I don't know about any of you, but I'm 0 for 3. There never seems to be the time. There's always something else to do. Well, if we don't take better care of ourselves our time will run out much too soon. For more information check out this article or visit the American Heart Association for suggestions on how to create a more heart healthy lifestyle for you and your family.

Take care of each other ;)

P.S. Imagine my disappointment when I recently learned the following:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 3 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

And all this time I thought I was the only one.

Is It Hot in Here?

While surfing National Geographic's website (yes, currently NG is an obsession of mine) I found this alarming headline, "2006 Was Warmest Year Yet Recorded for U.S." Now, I know we've all been commenting on the unseasonably warm December that has hit not only the Northeast, but the Midwest apparently - while places like Denver, uhhmm, have been suffering foot after foot of snow.

So what gives? Is it global warming? Is it El Nino? (Can you make the tilda over the "n" on Blogger? Or from my keyboard? I can't find it. My high school Spanish teachers would be disappointed in me.)

Apparently, according to preliminary data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina, the annual average temperature in the U.S. was 55 degrees Fahrenheit in 2006 which is the warmest year since 1895 when such data started being recorded. The average temperature was also 2.2 degrees F higher than the 20th century average.

While scientists agree that El Nino certainly contributed to the warmer temperatures, especially those experienced in the month of December where no state in the union experienced temperatures below their averages and five recorded their warmest Decembers ever, they also warn that 2006 is part of a "disturbing long-term trend of increasing temperatures."

"The past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record for the contiguous U.S., a streak which is unprecedented in the historical record," the NCDC report says.

Scientists believe that this long-term increase can be attributed to the emission of greenhouse gases - global warming, people. It's not a "theory." In fact, with every passing month it becomes more and more concrete. And if the Brits at the U.K. Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Change are correct then 2007 will be even warmer (globally) and the warmest year yet on record as the long-term increases continue and El Nino keeps the waters off the northwest coast of South America nice and toasty.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not really liking these crazy weather patterns. I mean, I don't ski or snowboard or snowshoe or generally go out into the snow unless dragged by my children, BUT it just doesn't feel right around here! A Christmas without snow happens all the time, but being able to play football and soccer in a green backyard without even having to wear a jacket during the first weekend in January - it just isn't right!!

Am I right?

And the implications for the spring are disastrous as well. First of all, without all the snow melt, lakes and streams and water tables are going to be low - really low - and that means a lack of water all around. There will probably be all kinds of water bans during the dog days of summer which are predicted to be VERY hot indeed in 2007.

So you tell me . . . Should we continue our fossil fuel burning ways while we continue to emit unprecedented amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and cut down thousands of acres of trees in the Amazon that would otherwise be soaking up some of these nasty greenhouse gases and releasing it back into the atmosphere as oxygen . . . or should we do something about it? I mean, really. While we can't change the path of El Nino, we certainly can have an impact on its effects by trying to prevent the annual increases in temperature due to global warming.

What have we got to lose if we try?

Well, everything if we don't.

One Planet No Longer Enough

I doubled my word count yesterday for NaNo (but I'm still well behind pace since I haven't done any writing today) and my brain is fried, so I decided to do some blogging to break things up a bit. During my "light" reading break, I ran across this article and felt compelled to share it.

According to a report put together by the environmental group WWF, "the Earth's natural resources are being used 25 per cent faster than the planet can renew them." And at that rate, and the anticipated rate of human population growth, the report predicts that "large-scale ecosystem collapse" is likely by the middle of this century.

The two biggest contributing factors to ecological destruction by human beings has been our propensity to consume natural resources faster than Mother Nature can replenish them and in consuming so much so fast, carbon-dioxide emissions are at their highest and account for 48 percent of the damage humans have had on the environment since 2003.

The WWF also noted a decline in biodiversity across the board and around the world with animal species suffering an overall 27 percent decline. Tropical land species suffered the biggest hit with a 55 percent decrease in population among the 695 species monitored.

So let me spell it out for you - Human beings suck when it comes to taking care of the environment that surrounds us. If we drive too many plant and animal species to extinction, if we continue to release unprecedented amounts of carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere, if we continue to ignore that our gluttony is killing the Earth - we won't have an Earth to abuse anymore.

When you think about it, it isn't about politics, or money, or jobs - it's about survival; and human beings MUST change if they wish to stick around.