Last night the CBC news ran a documentary about the weird weather we’ve been having this winter. This season the weather in Canada has been totally reversed: people in the west are digging themselves out from under snowdrifts, people in the east are playing golf, and up north the polar ice is melting at a record rate. Global warming is totally messing things up on our planet…. we are messing up our planet.
It seems evident that we all need to make some changes – fast. We need to rethink our ridiculous level of consumption. We have to stop relying so much on cars. Governments must put policies into place that reward people who are trying to make positive change and punish those who don’t… like factories that continue to spew chemicals into the environment and produce too much garbage.
We’re in the middle of a crisis and things aren’t going to change unless we change.
But habits are hard to break, aren’t they? It’s hard enough to stop shopping for a month.
If you knew that you could save the world if you changed your habits, would you?
Some people don’t think believe there’s a problem. What’s almost worse: some people think they are entitled … that if they can afford it they should be able to continue living the way they want.
What got me thinking about this today is something Mark told me yesterday. I couldn’t believe it. I still don’t believe it. It is grossly unbelievable.
He was out and about for work, and during lunchtime happened to be in the parking lot near a Swiss Chalet. He saw an older couple park their Cadillac Esplanade in the handicapped spot in front of the restaurant. They got out and went inside. And here’s the crazy part: they left their car idling the whole time. Mark estimates they were in there for a half an hour, possibly more.
Did you know that an hour of automobile idling burns approximately 1/5 of a gallon of gas and releases nearly 4 pounds of CO2 into the air. Excessive amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere can increase global warming. (from this PDF)
Who are these people? And what in god’s name are they thinking? As if this weather we’ve been having isn’t enough of an indicator… what needs to happen before people finally get it?