Get a Grip – Living Green

Part A – Get a Grip!!

By Steve Lawrence:

      Since I designed and built my own passive solar home over 30 years ago, I have been living green.   Every energy saving makes a difference!  Whatever our next life, future generations “will” be left here with “our” legacy!  Our society is so concerned with providing our children with the skills they need to be successful.  What good are those skills if we make our planet unliveable?

     My eyes opened with a flight to L.A.  in 1970.   I couldn’t believe the smog that overhung that city!  Even today, driving into any major city will probably be along a multilane highway which merges with other multilane arteries that are jam-packed.  From a distance we see the haze from all the fossil fuels we are burning to heat an d cool our homes, power our vehicles, provide electricity, and maintain lifestyle.  Consider all the major centers in this world; it is not hard to imagine the collective environmental  impact mankind has been making! 

    More recently, I learned that while mankind is a small player in the carbon cycle, we have managed to upset the current  balance.  Once we release carbon into the atmosphere , it takes up to 50 years for 70% of the carbon to be taken up by plants or dissolved in the oceans.  The remaining 30% can remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years.     Carbon my grandfather released into the atmosphere a hundred years ago is still floating around.  I have used up a lot more fossil fuels.  We continue to increase our release of carbon as our industrial age consumes ever increasing amounts of carbon fuels.   The point is we keep adding to what is still there.  Climate change is our doing and 97% of the world’s leading climate experts are in agreement. 

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    Research indicates there is a time lag between CO2 emissions and rise in global temperatures.  If we stopped emitting carbon completely right now, we will continue experiencing climate change effects for 40-50 years!  Further, drought conditions will reduce the role of plant uptake and warming oceans will be able to hold  less dissolved CO2 – both resulting in more CO2 staying in the atmosphere.  If we don’t make changes now, the Earth’s surface could be uninhabitable by the turn of the century! 

    The failure of political leaders to come to an agreement on what has to be done does not mean that the experts are wrong.  It means that our legacy to future generations is in serious trouble. 

     What can we do as individuals?  We are a very energy intensive society in terms of the energy we use and products.  We need to change our lifestyles and many of the choices we need to make are healthy ones.  Walk, bike or use public transit to work, use less hot water, use a clothesline – anything that will reduce our energy use. 

     Are you willing to gamble our legacy for future generations by continuing with a fossil fuel life style?  Learn more, and if it scares you –  that is okay – just get a grip and start making a difference.