Saving the Planet

We've all heard the "global warming" predictions. But not until just recently did it really make a huge impact on me. It's not that I wasn't aware of it, I was. And it's not that I was ignoring it. I wasn't. I guess I had been living in my own little bubble of thinking that I was doing my part, for the most part. And that it would somehow be resolved.

But the weather, the shocking new circumstances, the dire predictions, and the rate of change on our planet has become so much more serious, so much more quickly. And we appear to be headed straight over the border of no return, at full speed ahead. It scares me to death that all these drastic events are going to happen during the course of my own lifetime. And that for the first half of my life, me and my generation (who I thought to be somewhat forward thinking) have been just muddling along business-as-usual, while allowing all this destruction to happen. It's our watch. It's up to us to ensure that our kids and grandkids have an earth left to live on. And it doesn't look good.

What does this have to do with my soap business and this little blog? Just that I feel compelled to do more and say more and be a voice in the conversation, in an effort to stop the madness. So I've made some resolutions. The first one is to find out more about how one little person can make a difference. And then do those things. And also share those things in my blog, hopefully inspiring even a couple people more to make a few changes. It's all the little things that add up.

After I saw the film, "An Inconvenient Truth," I was so shocked and horrified that it was overwhelming. The facts and the science is so clear, and nobody is immune to the catastrophes -- the heat waves, the floods, hurricane Katrina. And the news stories and articles just piled up daily. The drowning polar bears. The gigantic ice shelf that broke off in an hour.

Ok, so I'm not going to be all preachy about it. It's true. All the scientific data is the same. There is no other conclusion. There are a few spin-types who are in denial or are trying to hang onto their greedy little profits. But the climate change is happening anyway. And it's happening fast.

What we need to hang onto is this: we already have the technology to make the changes necessary. We do not need to make huge sacrifices in our lifestyles (though this is will not be true later), just small, well thought out changes and attention to our daily habits. We have the power to do this right now, today.

Shamelessly ripped from ClimateCrisis.net is a list of 10 things you can do right now.

1. Change a lightbulb. Replacing just one standard lightbulb with a compact fluorescent lightbulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

2. Drive less. You'll save 1 pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive.

3. Recycle more. You'll save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling half of your household waste.

4. Check your tires. Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve your gas mileage by more than 3%. Each gallon of gas saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

5. Use less hot water. So many ways to do this one.

6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging. You can save 1200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

7. Adjust your thermostat. Lowering your thermostat 2 degrees in winter, and raising it 2 degrees in summer can save 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year
.
8. Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

9. Turn off electronic devices. Turning off your tv, dvd, computers etc when you are not using them can save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

10. Spread the word.

Needless to say, I'm checking off each item on the list. And I'm planning on sharing more tips once per week -- so tune in, or check out, as your heart desires.