al gore is my homeboy

It was awesome to wake up this morning to a NY Times e-news update with the headline "Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize". Made my day a little brighter. I was just talking about ol' Al last night and thank goodness for him and his invention of the internet and devotion to all things climate change because otherwise, so many people would still be in the dark about the simple things they can do that can positively affect them, their future, and the lives of others and our earth. Some people want Al to run for president. I sure hope he doesn't-- I don't think he will. He can make more of a difference by staying out of the political rat race at this point. So long as we elect someone who agrees with his views and vows to introduce and enforce policies and increase environmental education, I think we might actually do alright.

Over 10 years ago, I did a report on global warming in my middle school reading class. I was very gung-ho about saving the environment and the rainforest and baby harp seals. I remember thinking it was weird that all of the books I could find on the subject were written in the 80s and couldn't find too much that was much more recent. Then the global warming issue went all quiet and no one attached the 'el niño' phenomenon to global warming or any other weather phenomenons. Until the Tsunami happened. And Katrina happened. And 'An Inconvenient Truth' happened (and I gave it to each of my family members for Christmas). And a tornado in Brooklyn happened. All of a sudden people talked about it like it was a new idea, or something they finally could put their finger on for the first time. We can't chalk up all of this crazy weather to terroist ridden conspiracy theory.

Come on people. Wake up and smell the compost heap. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Tweety Bird's been saying it for years. Walk or bike, don't drive. Use public transportation. Use biodegradeable and chemical free household and personal products. Eat locally and seasonally, or better yet, go vegan. Wear an extra sweater, don't turn up the heater. Use alternative means of power. Buy emissions credits. Remember that we as a human race have the conscious ability to care and be responsible for this planet that is homes to billions of life-forms. Let's make it a better place to live.