make a change

i decided to take a break from talking about myself to get involved in something a bit (or a whole lot) bigger. today's blog post is part of 2009's Blog Action Day. for those of you who don't know what blog action day is, it's basically a bunch of bloggers from all over the world (it was over 7000 last time i checked) all posting about the same thing on the same day. this year's topic is climate change, and since i have tons of time to procrastinate, i figured i'd at least try and save the world or something while doing it. or at least spread the word so someone somewhere can save the world... i'll be in the background blogging about it.

just in case you've been living under a rock for the past few years and have never heard of climate change, here's wikipedia's definition: a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average (for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events). got it??

we've all started to feel the effects of climate change. you know the feeling that mother nature is suddenly menopausal?? yeah, that's because of global warming. but weather on crack is not the only thing we can look forward to if we dont start to do something. if you like skiing, christmas trees, baseball (bats are made of ash tree which are disappearing), salmon, lobster, or coral... well, your luck sucks cause they're pretty much goners. so are wildflowers, guacamole, almonds, and french fries. if you like mosquitoes, poison ivy, bear attacks, and cannibal polar bears, though, you should go buy yourself a lottery ticket! we'll have loads of them once this global warming really starts to kick in. oceans are turning to acid and diseases thought to have been wiped out are making a comeback.

picture this: winter vacation spent scratching rashes and bug bites as you sit around a fake tree locked in a cabin because of the starving bears surrounded by fake snow... sounds great, right??

if you were crazy enough to answer no, then there's a bunch of stuff you can do to prevent it from happening. there's all the normal things like using those "green" fluorescent lights, takingshorter showers, and using recycled paper. turn your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up two in the summer. plant a tree and turn off electronics when youre not using them (and no, screen savers dont count). but things like covering your pots while cooking, unplugging electronics when not in use, and using an old-fashioned lawn mower (the push without an engine kind) also help. oh, and harassing congressmen and other more important people than yourself until they do something is always a good idea.

use one of these carbon calculators to find out just how much of the destruction of the world is your fault and how much money you can pay to make up for it. do you really want the death of the koala bears on your hands? do you?

click here to read more effects of global warming that you can use to motivate you to get out your cape (made from all green recycled materials of course) and save the world.

go to www.blogactionday.org to read/learn more.

*Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson