I recently went to a John Butler Trio concert and came away changed. He planted a seed in my heart and mind that night which didn't come from his amazing music, it had reached me long ago, but the words he spoke when the guitar had stopped. Anyone who listens to John Butler's music or knows anything about him, would know that he is a true lover of our world, more in a take very little and give a lot sort of way, and is committed to many causes, the environment being a major priority for him.
At the concert he spoke about staying silent on issues and not coming forward, and that silence is just a bad as the negativeness and wrong doers in the world.
Hows does this relate to blog action day.???
I'm screaming out on the inside yet nothing is coming out of my mouth. I think most people who know me and spend time with me realise that I do fight for a cause.. to a certain extent... and I do care for the environment, I do try and get my point across.. but only if the issue arises first. I want to try and change that. I want to get people discussing these important issues and helping people to realise just how crucial issues like reducing our carbon emissions are. Blog Action Day is just the beginning for me.
So whats my contribution to this issue, on this day....
It is putting my views across in the hope that someone who hasn't really given these issues much thought, may think seriously, that people who aren't educated about these issues, get educated, and people who aren't doing anything to cut their carbon emissions, starts doing even the smallest things.
I think we all need to really get educated on the issues at hand, including myself. We need to understand whats happening to our planet, that our contribution to global warming isn't a hoax or a swindle, that it is science!! Al Gore's documentary 'An inconvenient truth' should be viewed by everyone, it should be viewed in schools. If you go down the path of believing the skeptics, than visit the WWF(World Wildlife Fund) link which has a lists of points that these skeptics make and scientific proof that crushes them all. The simple fact is that you don't even need to be a scientist to see that the planet is warming. I live in country Victoria and I know, as do many around me, that the winters are getting shorter, they are just not as cold and wet as they once were, we are in a record dought... which leads into the issue of whether it really is a drought or is this just the weather now... the summers are hotter and drier and longer!! And if we don't make serious attempts to change our ways, as individuals, as parents, as communities, as businesses, as Australians and as part of a global community, our children and their children will live with disastrous consequences too many too list. I think we are dealing with enough now, but it is only going to get worse is the temperature of the globe increases anymore. If you want to read specifically about this, the WWF commissioned a report by a former CSIRO climate scientist about a 3 degree increase in Australia and what affect this would have. If this doesn't scare you into acting, I'm not sure what will. But if you have children, consider it for them, consider what you're leaving behind.
So what can YOU do thats not tying yourself to a tree or handing over lots of money for a hyprid car; heres just a few...
- as your light bulbs blow replace it with a fluro globe...
- vote in the upcoming election for the party with the best environmental plan
- re-use your grey water... it reduces waste and pollution
- buy as many fruit and vegetables as you can that are grown locally, do you really want to eat an apple thats flown in from America not to mention the carbons given off form the plane, or one thats grown here in the country but a hard working Aussie farmer...
- use the microwave more...four minutes in the microwave uses 22g of CO2 as opposed to 385g for your oven
- only boil the amount of water you need to make your cuppa, not the whole jug
- don't print things onto paper that aren't absolutely necessary, it just creates more waste, uses unnecessary paper, just take a sec and read it on the screen...
- Pay that little bit extra on your electricity bill and chose green power...
- Eat less meat, even just one meat free meal a week. A plant-based diet generally requires less land, energy, and other resources. Crop-based food requires an average of 0.78 global hectares per ton of food, compared to 2.1 global hectares required to produce one ton of animal-based food.
- Don't buy products that have unnecessary packing, like double wrapped items, needed more energy to make the packaging and more waste. Eg, Lipton squeezable teabags, are in a little individual cover, then in the box and then in plastic, normal teabag have one less layer, tea leaves have even less packaging... Try to buy a unprocessed, unpackaged version where possible.
- Put another bin beside your normal one thats used for recyclables, research shows that households that use this method recycle significantly more than those who don't.
- Educate yourself... and others....
This issue can be overwhelming, but small steps - any steps - are the key, but the time to act is now, as time is running out. Maybe not for you or me, but for future generations, as cliched as that sounds, I want Bain to be able to have a more certain future....
