Category Archives: Climate Change

Carbon Footprint Reduction, Climate Change

Hurricane Helene

Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

I have not written about hurricanes in a little while and yet I now must.  Last week Hurricane Helene (category 4) swept up the western coast of the United States, leaving devastating damage and destruction throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.  More than 170 people are dead or missing and almost 2 million people had no power.  Homes and buildings were twisted and left looking like pickup sticks.

Climate Week also took place in New York City with pledges to triple funding for nuclear energy, the establishment of a new green banks’ forum, and calls for more carbon removal.  Education about sustainability was also high on the list so that corporations and the general public better understand the options they have to remove carbon.

I bring up these two topics because they are intertwined.  The consequences of climate change are high.  If we persist in driving up CO2 levels in the atmosphere, we will continue to experience catastrophic weather events which devastate lives, businesses, and our emotional well-being.  We must reduce our carbon footprints, we must work with one another, and we must act urgently.  As I have said before, time is of the essence.

Animals, Carbon Footprint Reduction, Children, Climate Change, Kindness, Leadership, Life, Uncategorized

Hope

I hope you all had a nice summer and enjoyed some time with your loved ones. There is so much hard news out there and devastating forest fires in Canada, the United States, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Vietnam. People and animals have lost their homes, and many died from smoke inhalation. And yet, I remain hopeful that we can turn this situation around. There are so many people working to mitigate climate change and make sure that the Earth’s temperatures stop rising and start to decline. So, this is message which is meant to be encouraging in its nature. In the words of so many, we can do this. We each, individually, and collectively, can make a difference to help our fellow humans, and the precious animals of the world. Please reduce your carbon footprints, eat less meat, consume less, and take a walk in a forest or swim in the ocean. I have said it previously, each minute counts. Each one of us matters, and we can positively impact the future.

Animals, Carbon Footprint Reduction, Climate Change, Leadership

The Motivation of Hope

I recently watched this moving video (below) where David Attenborough, a British biologist and broadcaster known for his natural history television series, talks about reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and hope. He said, “Nature is a key ally. Whenever we restore the wild it will recapture carbon and help us bring back balance to our planet.” He went on to state that “we must use this opportunity to create a more equal world. Our motivation must not be fear but hope.” I urge you to continue to make a positive difference in this world.

Climate Change, Kindness, Leadership

Helping Hands

As the death toll climbs from Hurricane Ian we are reminded, yet again, of the increasing severity of climate change. We must continue to reduce our carbon footprints, and positively impact our world. I am heartened by all of the people volunteering to help those who have lost their homes and rebuild communities in Florida and Puerto Rico.

I am also buoyed by friends, colleagues, and others who are planting trees and working to increase biodiversity across the world. We know that we must continue to join together so that we have a livable planet.

Animals, Climate Change, Oceans

Marine Life

According to new research, global warming is causing such a drastic change to the world’s oceans that it risks a mass extinction event of marine species that rivals anything that’s happened in the Earth’s history over tens of millions of years.

“The future of life in the oceans rests strongly on what we decide to do with greenhouse gases today. There are two vastly different oceans we could be seeing, one devoid of a lot of life we see today, depending on what we see with CO2 emissions moving forward,” said Justin Penn, a climate scientist at Princeton University who co-authored new research published in “Science”.

So what can you do?  Reduce your carbon footprint, eat less meat, avoid using or purchasing items that are wrapped in plastic, and plant native trees.  Trees are one of the best ways to take carbon out of the atmosphere.  Thank you!

Climate Change

Plastic

While the east coast of the United States is experiencing record hot temperatures, so is the west coast and Canada.  Climate change is a root cause but so is humankind.  We cannot keep treating the Earth like it is a garbage dump.  Whole Foods is now packaging customer orders in shiny, silver, plastic freezer bags.  What happens to those bags once the customer gets his/her delivery of groceries?  They end up in the trash.  And where does that trash go?  It either gets burned in a toxic incinerator or winds up in the ocean.  Usually, customer orders contain plastic water bottles and groceries wrapped in plastic containers.  So, plastic is packaged in more plastic.  You could say that plastic containers get recycled.  Sadly, this is untrue.  We must end our love affair with plastic and waste.  The planet is already at its tipping point.  I would be happy to hear your tips on how you have reduced your waste.  Thank you.

Animals, Climate Change, Water

No clean air, no clean water?

We all need clean water and clean air.

Right now, more than ever, we need clean water, clean air and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.  Clean air and clean water are integral to our health, and to the lives of animals.  Without them our immune systems are compromised and we are less able to fight off increasingly virulent viruses.  If we keep increasing the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (all greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere the planet will continue to heat up.  This in turn, will help to further the spread of deadly illnesses.

Sadly, the Trump administration shows no concern for any of the aforementioned things.  In fact, it is busy weakening or rolling back 98 environmental rules.  His administration, for example, has loosened rules to reduce toxic emissions from industry, has weakened fuel mileage standards for cars, has relaxed air pollution emission levels from new power plants, has lifted a ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is now allowing coal companies to dump mining debris into streams, is allowing hunting in wildlife refuges, is putting more endangered marine mammals and sea turtles at risk to be killed by fishing, and is making it more difficult to protect wildlife with changes to the Endangered Species Act.

It is time to speak out again.  It is time to reach out to your senators and congressional representatives to tell them to protect our water, air and our environment.  Please call or email them, time is of the essence.

Animals, Carbon Footprint Reduction, Children, Climate Change, Leadership

Join in

Please join the Global Climate Strike on Friday, September 20th. Greta Thunberg, who I featured in an earlier blog, will be there. Climate change affects all of us, and we have to stand up for the animals and children of this world.

WHERE: Union Square, NY, NY

WHEN: 12pm, September 20, 2019

WHO: You, your friends, your family, your co-workers

https://globalclimatestrike.net/

Courtesy of Premal Patel

Children, Climate Change, Leadership

Amazing 16 Year-old

Greta Thunberg

On Monday, April 15, 2019 a sixteen year old schoolgirl from Sweden said politicians were failing to take enough action on climate change and the threats to the natural world.

She told a room full of MEPs and EU officials in Strasbourg, “Our house is falling apart and our leaders need to start acting accordingly because at the moment they are not.”

When the young climate activist spoke of a “sixth mass extinction”, her voice faltered. “The extinction rate is up to six times faster than what is considered normal, with up to 200 species becoming extinct every single day,” she said. “Erosion of fertile topsoil, deforestation of the rainforest, toxic air pollution, loss of insects and wildlife, acidification of our oceans – these are all disastrous trends.”

Who is Greta Thunberg?

Greta Thunberg gained notice when she began a solo climate protest by striking from school in Sweden in August of 2018. She has since been joined by tens of thousands of school and university students in Australia, Belgium, Germany, the United States, Japan and more than a dozen other countries.

In December of 2018, at the United Nations climate conference, she said world leaders were behaving like irresponsible children.  And in January 2019 she hit on the global business elite in Davos: “Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.”

Thunberg said “you are never too small to make a difference,” she said. Her protests have been inspired by US students who staged walk-outs to demand better gun controls in the wake of school shootings.