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Tag: earth

hawking on global warming

hawking on global warming

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From an article by Steve Conner in The Independent: Hawking warns: We must recognise the catastrophic dangers of climate change

Climate change stands alongside the use of nuclear weapons as one of the greatest threats posed to the future of the world, the Cambridge cosmologist Stephen Hawking has said.

Professor Hawking said that we stand on the precipice of a second nuclear age and a period of exceptional climate change, both of which could destroy the planet as we know it …

“As we stand at the brink of a second nuclear age and a period of unprecedented climate change, scientists have a special responsibility, once again, to inform the public and to advise leaders about the perils that humanity faces,” Professor Hawking said. “As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth.

“As citizens of the world, we have a duty to share that knowledge. We have a duty, as well, to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change.”

And it is our duty as citizens of the world, as citizens of our respective nations, and as stewards of God’s good creation, to ensure that our governments act sooner rather than later to address the looming crisis of climate change, even as we do what we can as individuals to reduce our personal contributions to the problem. Even the smallest step in the right direction is better than taking no step at all.

arctic national wildlife refuge under siege

arctic national wildlife refuge under siege

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Once again the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is under threat. Some people just don’t understand “No!” No, it is not worth it to us to add a few more gallons to our oil reserves if it means the sacrifice of this precious piece of wilderness.

a tank full of gas: $60
drilling a new oil well: $5 million
preserving the home of the caribou, the black bear, the moose, the Dall mountain sheep, the Gwich’in Indian: priceless

In the words of the our own government (from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife website):

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was established to preserve unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values; to conserve caribou herds, polar bears, grizzly bears, muskox, dall sheep, wolves, snow geese, peregrine falcons, other migratory birds, dolly varden, and grayling; to fulfill international treaty obligations; to provide opportunities for continued subsistence uses; and to ensure necessary water quality and quantity.

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one small step for the earth

one small step for the earth

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Get your TerraPass!

TerraPass decal

I discovered a link to this website while reading an article about global warming. TerraPass is a program that provides a way to offset the global warming impact of your vehicle’s CO2 emissions by investing in clean energy projects that reduce industrial carbon emissions. They call it cleaning up after your car.

I bought my TerraPass. Visit the TerraPass website and clean up after your car!

(And read a May 3 article by Andrew Revkin of the New York Times: Federal Study Finds Accord on Warming.)

mike nobel

mike nobel

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I had the privilege yesterday of meeting Mike Nobel and the privilege of hearing a group of talented and enthusiastic elementary school students perform some of his songs. Mike Nobel is a singer/songwriter/composer from Gorham, Maine, near the place in Maine we used to call home. When we still lived in Maine, my wife used his stuff with her primary students and my daughter grew fond of singing his songs at home.

Mike Nobel has produced a number of different collections of songs for school children: songs about smoking prevention, songs about abuse prevention. But the songs I know and love, the songs my daughter still sings are the songs from Color Me Green, a collection of songs about environmental awareness and environmental activism. Here’s an excerpt:
Color Me Green album cover

Come on people all around the world
Mommas and daddies, boys and girls
This old planet’s in a terrible state
Getting more polluted day by day

In every city, in every town
You gotta stand up (Stand up!) and look around
The earth is in trouble, you know that it’s true
Well this is the future talkin’ to you

You got to stand up (Stand up!) for mother nature
Stand up (Stand up!) for a greener future
Got to stand up! (Stand up!) Stand up! (Stand up!)
And help the world to be pollution free (Pollution free) Pollution free!

For the birds and the bees, for the fish in the sea
For the fuzzy little animals hiding in the trees
For the earth and the water, for the air we breathe
Don’t wait ’till we face an emergency

Hand to hand, and brain to brain
Little by little we can make a change
Across the nation, around the globe
Workin’ together, ’till everybody knows ….

You got to stand up (Stand up!) for mother nature
Stand up (Stand up!) for a greener future
Got to stand up! (Stand up!) Stand up! (Stand up!)
And help the world to be pollution free (Pollution free) Pollution free!

The music is fun and often exquisite; the message is powerful and passionate; and the subject matter — this beautiful earth, God’s good creation — is a subject near and dear to my heart! Thank you, Mike, for sharing your passion for the earth with us through your music. Thank you, Lynne, for bringing him to Iowa. Thank you, children of Price Lab School, for making the songs (and I hope the passion for the earth they express) your own!

You may find out more about Mike Nobel and his music at http://www.freewebs.com/mikenobel/.

wackos?

wackos?

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Environmentalists are just a bunch of wackos …

  • They believe that every human being is entitled to breathe clean air and to drink clean water.
  • They believe that a healthy planet is essential to the welfare of all living things, including human beings.
  • They believe in leaving the world a better place for future generations.
  • They believe in the virtue of making small sacrifices now to preserve the bounty of the earth’s resources for later.
  • They want their children and their children’s children and their children’s children’s children to experience the same awe and wonder they experience in encountering the astounding variety and complexity and beauty of the natural world, of all that human beings have not made for themselves and barely understand.
  • They believe that the divine mandate to be good stewards of this earth means to take care of it, not to exploit it.
  • They believe that a horned owl or a piping plover or a topeka shiner or an eastern prairie fringed orchid have as much right to exist as they do, and that plants and animals and matter itself have value in and of themselves, not just in their usefulness to the human economy.
  • They believe in respecting life, in appreciating life, in enjoying life, in all its forms.
  • They love this earth and show that love by being zealously protective of its well-being.
New River Gorge

Just loony, isn’t it?

If it is crazy to harbor such beliefs … I pray that there may there be a worldwide epidemic of such insanity!

save the arctic national wildlife refuge!

save the arctic national wildlife refuge!

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Read the article posted by Matthew Gilbert, a Gwich’in himself. (NRDC Action Fund Blog: Why is drilling the Arctic Refuge wrong?) Here’s an excerpt:

The fact that it’s even a question whether we should drill in a pristine place like the refuge, the breeding grounds of Polar Bears, Porcupine Caribou Herd, and many bird species, is an ethical travesty of our time …

The Arctic Refuge should not only be protected for its natural value, but also for its value to the Gwich’in. The Porcupine Caribou Herd calves in the Arctic Refuge and is very sensitive to humans. Establishing oil rigs, roads, drill pads, and other industrial additions will drive animals out, change their migration routes, and harm the land.

Gwich’in who hunt the Porcupine Caribou Herd will be affected in more ways than one. We implement products of the Porcupine Caribou Herd in every area of our lives; warm skin clothes, ivory-tools, arrowheads, and traditional dresses. Gwich’in are extremely efficient with every animal we kill; we use a dead animal in the utmost efficient way. So when we harvest even one caribou, it provides us with a host of things used to survive and flourish.

If the Gwich’in lose the refuge they lose their identity. Without the caribou the Gwich’in will have a harder time making ends meet or move into the cities. So it is not only environmental doom that industry would bring to the Gwich’in Nation but also social doom. The refuge needs to be protected! Please join the Gwich’in in our fight to protect a way of life older than all the monumental wonders of the world. Protect a critical relationship that the Gwich’in have maintained with the caribou for nearly 20,000 years.

For thirty years and more, the American people have said “No” to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. How many times do we have to say “No”?

This choice will be a test of our national character. Will we choose a one-time short term energy “fix” at the cost of an irreplaceable natural wonder and a whole way of life? Or will we take a longer and saner and humbler point of view, recognizing that the value of this land rests not merely in what it can produce, but in what it is?

We need to keep the oil companies out of the Refuge for the sake of the Gwich’in, for the sake of the caribou … and for our own sake. For the sake of our own spiritual well-being we need to set limits on our gluttony, our greed, our hubris, and leave some things alone!