"Our children will curse our selfishness and inaction on climate change." -Matthew McDermott, New York, NY
This week was an important week in NYC: Clinton's climate change symposium and the UN meeting both drew attention to an issue, which if not addressed, will have catastrophic effects on the generations to follow us. Most of the time, climate change and global warming are talked about as an abstract concept. But as an avid traveler, there are some sights and places that may not be around much longer because of global warming. I thought it would be good to highlight some of the things that will be affected (or obsolete) because of climate change:
Climate change in the Alps may leave Europe with one less tourism destination and a water shortage crisis. The Alps provide 40 percent of Europe's fresh water. However with temperatures in the Alps increasing at a rate more than twice the global average, Europe faces the challenge of changing water resources.
The Cateret Islands, part of Papua New Guinea, are being submerged by the sea. One island has already been divided in half, and the islanders are living mostly on fish and coconut as the lands they formerly used to grow vegetable crops are no longer fertile. Lack of food has caused the schools on the islands to have to close for part of the year. Residents are being relocated, and just 2 cents from every New Yorker could help relocate the majority of the residents. And that's just the tip of the iceberg: forecasts estimate that 20 million people in Bangladesh will be displaced because of rising seas, which will affect both rice production as well as overcrowding in surrounding cities and employment rates.
Climate change will cause global health catastrophe, according to 18 of the world's leading medical organizations. Unless serious progress is made in fighting climate change the world faces a slew of threats: stronger infectious diseases (sound familiar?), increased starvation and malnutrition (as lands and crop production become less fertile), and more heat-related deaths.
I don't mean to be the harbinger of doom; there are things we can do today to help slow down the effects of climate change: reduce our carbon emissions (cleaner air), recycle (less waste that has to be disposed of), consume less or look for greener alternatives, and influence others to change their behaviors as well.
Sep 18, 2009
#142: Climate Week 2009 (Friday, September 18)
Next week (September 21-25) is Global Climate Week. Throughout the week, synchronized activities will take place in more than 100 cities to urge world leaders to seal a fair and effective climate agreement at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December.
Also during the week of September 20th, hundreds of government and business leaders from around the world will converge upon New York City for a series of high-level meetings and events on climate change in advance of the Copenhagen meeting. As a result, NYC is also hosting its own Climate Week (September 20 - 26) to draw attention to the meetings.
If you're in NYC, here's a host of events you can participate in:
http://www.climateweeknyc.org/events
If you're outside of NYC, there's also stuff you can do:
http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/global-climate-week
Also during the week of September 20th, hundreds of government and business leaders from around the world will converge upon New York City for a series of high-level meetings and events on climate change in advance of the Copenhagen meeting. As a result, NYC is also hosting its own Climate Week (September 20 - 26) to draw attention to the meetings.
If you're in NYC, here's a host of events you can participate in:
http://www.climateweeknyc.org/events
If you're outside of NYC, there's also stuff you can do:
http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/global-climate-week
(Climate) change begins with you!
Sep 11, 2009
#141: Sharing is Caring...And Cheaper Too! (Friday, September 11)
Here are a few things that you can share with others that can cut your costs and make the world just a little bit better.
Share your home: thinking of going on vacation abroad? Chances are someone abroad wants to be in your city. You can both share your homes and have a win-win situation. Yeah, yeah, I know...your parents told you never to trust strangers. But you'll be staying in their home too, so I'm sure they feel the same way. Plus, if you do your homework and get proper identification (passport #, travel ticket info, etc.) you can avoid most of the scams that people typically perpetrate. Check Craigslist housing swap in the city you're traveling to.
Share your car: do you spend more time moving your car from one spot to another than you spend driving it? Do you use your car at odd hours of the day/night? Are your insurance, gas, and maintenance taking a toll on your wallet? If your answer's yes, then car sharing is the perfect solution for you. You can share your car with another friend who has opposite transportation needs from yours (e.g. if your car is parked all day, but you have a friend who needs a car at that time, it's a perfect match), or you can do away with your car altogether and rely on sharing services such as Zipcar or the Car Sharing Network for the times you do need transportation.
Share/borrow your tools: Unless you're Ty Pennington or you're a professional contractor, chances are you don't need your own set of high tech tools. You can save hundreds of dollars on tools like lawnmowers, saws, ladders, etc. by borrowing them from the tool-lending library. Here's a challenge, if there's not a tool-lending library in your neighborhood, why not start one?
There. Aren't you happy I shared these resources with you?
Go green or go home!
Sep 4, 2009
#140: Wasted Energy (Friday, September 4)
en⋅er⋅gy [en-er-jee] –noun, plural -gies. The capacity for vigorous activity; available power.
Physics. the capacity to do work; the property of a system that diminishes when the system does work on any other system, by an amount equal to the work so done; potential energy. Symbol: E
Any source of usable power, as fossil fuel, electricity, or solar radiation.
The word "energy" has multiple meanings. There are also different types of energy: kinetic energy, heat energy, solar energy, renewable energy, nuclear energy, positive energy, negative energy...I could go on.
Whether or not you're an environmentally-conscious person, one thing we can all agree on is that wasted energy is a terrible thing. To exert or use energy--be it physical, emotional, heat or electric--without a goal in mind, or to a useless end is wasteful and destructive.
If someone told you to carry a large, heavy rock to the top of a hill, but could provide no reason or goal for using your energy would you do it? Probably not. Or what if someone asked you to leave all the lights on in your house for an entire day, for no purpose at all? You likely wouldn't do that either.
But if someone asked you to carry a pebble to the top of the hill or to leave your lights on for 5 minutes, you'd be more likely to do either of those tasks...even if there is no clear goal in mind. Why? Because it requires very little energy.
Sometimes our relationships are lot like these examples: there are some that require lots of energy but provide very little reward or we are unable to justify them; there are others that require very little energy, so we maintain those bonds just because it requires little effort on our part...even though we know that those liaisons are not rewarding.
In both cases, you're wasting energy. You don't have to be green to conserve energy. What are you wasting your energy on today?
Physics. the capacity to do work; the property of a system that diminishes when the system does work on any other system, by an amount equal to the work so done; potential energy. Symbol: E
Any source of usable power, as fossil fuel, electricity, or solar radiation.
The word "energy" has multiple meanings. There are also different types of energy: kinetic energy, heat energy, solar energy, renewable energy, nuclear energy, positive energy, negative energy...I could go on.
Whether or not you're an environmentally-conscious person, one thing we can all agree on is that wasted energy is a terrible thing. To exert or use energy--be it physical, emotional, heat or electric--without a goal in mind, or to a useless end is wasteful and destructive.
If someone told you to carry a large, heavy rock to the top of a hill, but could provide no reason or goal for using your energy would you do it? Probably not. Or what if someone asked you to leave all the lights on in your house for an entire day, for no purpose at all? You likely wouldn't do that either.
But if someone asked you to carry a pebble to the top of the hill or to leave your lights on for 5 minutes, you'd be more likely to do either of those tasks...even if there is no clear goal in mind. Why? Because it requires very little energy.
Sometimes our relationships are lot like these examples: there are some that require lots of energy but provide very little reward or we are unable to justify them; there are others that require very little energy, so we maintain those bonds just because it requires little effort on our part...even though we know that those liaisons are not rewarding.
In both cases, you're wasting energy. You don't have to be green to conserve energy. What are you wasting your energy on today?
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