What can I do?
Exit
Originally uploaded by SomewhereinAK. I just read this article about how an enormous ice shelf snapped off in Canada - oh about 16 months ago. The article says that they just released the news as the scientists wanted to have all the facts first. I am *really upset* by this news, as it is another nail in the coffin. It seems like people are waking up, but I don't know if it's too late. I have been thinking about what I want to do while I'm here in Latin America and I somehow want to get involved in solving this problem. I don't know how, or where, or anything more than I want - no I need - to get involved.
"The ice island is about 37 metres thick and measures roughly 15 kilometres by five kilometres. That's the size of a small city, or larger than 11,000 football fields. The island is now stuck in the winter ice, but the researchers believe it is just a matter of time before it is freed and floats away. They say the ice island could become a potential hazard to navigation and oil and gas extraction if it sails south towards the Beaufort Sea."
The irony in that last sentence doesn't escape me. I found another article from the San Francisco Chronicle and they have cool, but sad pictures. So, anyone have any ideas on how I can get involved? I don't even know where to start. I do not have a scientific background, but in helping administer non-profits. Should I look at local NGOs and see what they're up to? What's local when we don't even know where we're going to be living? How do I work on this problem, when the biggest culprit (for now) is the United States? How do I help developing countries without being a patronizing outsider? It's like a parent telling a child not to do certain things because they know the child will get hurt. The child doesn't want to listen, wants to experiment for themselves and learn the hard way. We don't have time for nations to learn the hard way unfortunately.