Climate Change

When you look at the newspapers, you see a lot of talk about the climate. And while you might worry more about the weather than about global warming, you may want to put down your coffee and think about climate change for a minute. Change is happening, all around us. And while you might want to leave this to the scientists to handle and to correct, the truth is that climate change is really everyone’s fault – and thus everyone’s job to help too. Even if you don’t believe that the Earth needs your help, it can’t really hurt to look for ways to have less of an impact on the planet.

Why Change Happens

Yes, climate change happens with or without the presence of humans. As the world spins around the Sun, the planet changes and things begin to shift. When the Earth isn’t being bombarded by pollution, it might be able to recover from dangerous changes in its environment. But let’s face it, humans are a messy and damaging bunch. With all of the things we create, use, toss, and then destroy in the process, we are impacting the Earth and causing constant and significant climate change. We are simply speeding up the changes that might have occurred anyways, true, but the Earth is having a hard time keeping up and healing itself.

Can We Stop Change?

That’s where you can help. Though the changes might not be able to be completely stopped, you can begin to slow down the changes so that the Earth can recover. Just like after a hard night of drinking, you want to slow down your boozing the next day or else your liver will never catch up. You can slow down change by trying to have less of an impact on the world around you. This might mean that you try to avoid buying things that might pollute the Earth or you might try to buy fewer things altogether. You might also choose to drive less or to seek out forms of renewable energy.

What You Can Do

Small steps do matter, especially when it comes to slowing climate change around the world. If everyone was committed to making one change in their lives, it would have an impact. Just as one bad habit of every person can harm the world, the opposite is true too. You might want to:

• Use less electricity – Make sure the lights are off in rooms you’re not using, turn down the thermostat, and use energy efficient light bulbs.
• Drive less – If you only have to run down the street, walk or take a bike to avoid using gas.
• Buy local foods – Instead of buying foods that have to be shipped to you, buy locally from farmers markets.
• Use what you have – You don’t have to keep buying things and thus support the production centers that pollute the world.

With just a few little steps, most of which you won’t even notice, you can help slow climate change.