Buried in the Washington Post today was an extremely short piece which is a little more detailed here: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2502076.ece. Yep, another warning! The sea ice in the Artic is “vanishing at faster rate than expected.” Gee, do you think this (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801188.html) or this (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/ts_nm/usa_air_dc_1) could have something to do with it?
I know that global warming is met with some amount of skepticism from some people. And ideas such as a local team’s efforts at supporting carbon offsets can get people going (http://www.racingunion.org/CommentView,guid,1c527b8c-602b-4799-8f29-21f1aeac5ac7.aspx). Our good friend Unholy Rouler – who’s become one of my favorite curmudgeons (and I sincerely mean that kindly) – has his own views on the subject. But, as when the United States sides with the Vatican and conservative Muslim nations on social issues in international forums (http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/topics/politics/documents/2000religionandpublicpolicyatheun.pdf), I have my suspicions when the United States sides with fellow big polluters like China (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043000127.html) on global warming issues. If the United States is siding with China, it raises an, er, red flag for me - could we be on the wrong side on this one??
Regardless, as my dialogue with Unholy Rouler recently shows (http://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/2007/04/wasser-flaschen.html#links), good people who otherwise disagree on specifics can come to some agreement on some basics.
The bottom line? Whether you think carbon offsets are a good idea or a scam (or somewhere in between); whether you think global warming is a reality or a global liberal conspiracy (or somewhere in between), some basic environmental principles in your daily life aren’t such a bad idea. My thought is to try doing some really small things, at least at first. Wash all your clothes in cold water – the clothes last longer and you save some energy. Plant a tree. Or, my recent favorite, insist on seafood that’s fished in a sustainable way (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100446.html). Monterey Bay Aquarium has some nice handy pocket seafood guides (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp). Any of these things, and more, are easy to do and are really about living in a smart way. Now, I’m not saying any of these small things will reduce global warming – indeed, some environmentally-friendly things you can do might have little to do with global warming – but doesn’t it all just make sense to attempt to reduce wasteful habits. After all, frugality is an all-American concept, isn’t it? Isn’t it Ben Franklin who said “waste not; want not”?
All this brings me to my final point. People all over are starting to clue in about cycling as a good, clean, health and fun means of transportation. Even rural Virginia is catching on (http://www.dnronline.com/search_details.php?AID=5572&CHID=1&key=bicycle&title=&author=&channelid=), and deep in the Shenandoah Valley, it seems that the recently-completed Tour of Virginia might have the added advantage of inspiring some to get out there and ride their bikes (http://www.dnronline.com/search_details.php?AID=10033&CHID=1&key=bicycle&title=&author=&channelid=) My hometown of Detroit – yes, that’s right! The Motor City! is celebrating Bike to Work day (http://detroitsynergy.org/projects/detroitbikes/folder.2007-04-26.0153150024/folder.2007-03-16.1917094854/news_item.2007-04-27.1056936960). Mark your calendar: It’s May 18th. Here at home, in the words of our Dear Leader, a “mighty two-wheeled tsunami of green and black will roll with authority eastward on that morning.” More on this later. In the meantime visit http://waba.org/events/btwd/index.php for Washington, DC Bike to Work Day events.