Global warming.

[windritual]

Lately I've been very interested in enviornmental issues. I think that this is something everyone should be concerned about and if you're not you should really start now. This post is focused on the issue of Global Warming.

This is our planet and with the way we've been treating it we're going to all be extinct (along with plant & animal life) in no time. Now more than ever we need to pressure the government to look into new enviornmentally friendly forms of power. We need to stop being so reliant on gas for fuel and not just because it gets more expensive by the day. It's literally destorying our planet as we know it.

If you think that all of this is a sham and it's for tree huggers to worry about please consider the following statistics.

There is an estimated 700 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere.

Because of global warming large amounts of glaciers in the Artic have been melting at a steady and alarming rate. The loss of these glaciers will make the sea level go up, putting anyone living within 3 feet of the sea level at imminent danger. In addition this could bring hotter summers and with that scientists are predicting an epidemic spread of infectious diseases such as cholera and malaria. Warmer summers also produce mass amounts of tree eating bugs.

Americans make up 5 percent of the world's population yet we comsume 25% of the world's energy and oil. This makes us the largest contributors of Global Warming emissions.

In the event that global warming gets out of hand:

Lakes and rivers could dry up.

There will be mass droughts which will make it very hard to grow crops.

Less and less water would be available for drinking, swimming, and bathing.

Plants and animals will be come extinct. Not necesarily all of them but most likely a large majority of them will be.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, and storms will become more frequent and more deadly.

& is just a small sliver of why we need to stop our mass pollution.

What you can do to help

Buy a hybrid. That's one obvious answer and one that most people can't do due to their income. However next time you are in the market for a new car and not interested in a hybrid check out the Ford Focus, Toyota Eco, or a Chevy Aveo. These cars are non-hybrid, get great gas mileage, and emit fewer emissions.

RECYCLE!! Recycle everything you can. As an interesting fact diapers take 500 years to decompose & Americans throw away 49 million of them a day. Plastic bottles will never decompose. So it is especially important to recycle these. In some states you can even get money for recycling such products.

Avoid using styrofoam which takes 1,000 years to decompose. Landfills emit toxins such as methane and carbon dioxide which are the two main gases contributing to global warming.

Use compact flourescent lightbulbs. If every American changed 5 of their regular lightbulbs to compact flourescents it would be like taking 8 million cars off the road. Converting to these energy efficent bulbs could help you save up to 67% of you energy usage. They are more expensive but will save you money in the long run as they last much longer.

Plant trees. The average person is responsible for emitting 94 pounds of carbon dioxide per day. It takes at least four trees to offset the carbon dioxide you personally emit in one month. The more trees the merrier.

Unplug things you aren't using. While your toasters, lamps, and tvs are turned off but plugged in they are still sucking up energy.

Buy toilet paper made from recycled paper, and use recycled paper for other things such as printer paper.

When purchasing home products (including office equiptment) look for the Energy Star label which can reduce your energy consumption by 30%.

Write your representatives and let them know that you are worried about the enviornment and would like to see them put their energy into saving it by funding and petitioning for econimically friendly forms of fuel and funding and petitioning for alternative electricity sources such as wind or solar power.

Again these are just some of the things you can do, there are many, many more. For a more in depth list visit EPA's Website. Some of these conservation methods are easier said than done and the average person may not be able to do some of these based on income. However, there are free options on the list too, such as unplugging anything you're not using while you're not using it. That doesn't take much effort at all and it costs you nothing and if anything will help you save money on your next utility bill. If every person even did just one of these things the world would be in a lot better of a place right now.

Also feel free to repost this or fragments of this post because whether you realize it or not this is a very important issue that will not only effect us but our children and grandchildren and we have to demand change starting right now.