Blog Action Day '09

Good Morning! Well it seems my week of recycling posts was just the beginning, I didn't even know it until last night, but today is blog action day. I was sent an e-mail from a group that I am associated with called the 350 challenge (you see the green badge on the left of this blog). It started as a group of people just trying to get 350 bloggers together to promote climate change, but it has grown to much larger than that, and as you can imagine, I was happy to join. I was also quite excited to get the e-mail about blog action day, which is leading up to International Day of Climate Change on October 24, 2009. This is a portion of the note I received from the people at 350.org:

The number is 350, and it's now the most important number on the planet. 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, measured in parts per million. Since we're at 390 ppm now, it's a tough number, and getting back to it will require remarkable efforts.The good news is that people all around the world are mobilizing around 350 in a unique and beautiful movement to solve the climate crisis.

On Oct. 24th, the International Day of Climate Action, people from over 150 nations will come together in creative climate actions to take a stand for 350 and a safe climate future. There will be 1000s of creative on-the-ground actions everywhere from the slopes of Mt. Everest to the underwater reefs of the Maldive Islands to the streets of our biggest cities. All designed to drive the 350 message into the human imagination -- and help our leaders realize we need a real solution that pays attention to the science.

Yes, I am very happy to share all of this information, and I was really happy when I went to the site to help us bloggers get started on today's posts and it was not all gloom and doom. As a matter of fact they compared our climate problems to being overweight, and most of us can understand that. We go to the doctor, find out we have high cholesterol, need to lose a few pounds, okay quite a few pounds, and get more exercise, eat right, all of the things we know we should be doing and do them! That is the whole point is that we have a choice to take action here people, we can, and we are. That is a very important word; action, and that is the part that I will participate in.

It gets a little sticky for me when we start talking about the next big happening:

This December, world leaders are meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark to draft a new global climate treaty -- one that has the potential to turn the tide on global warming and get our planet back on a brighter path. The problem is, most world leaders and their negotiators aren't getting it. They're not planning to do enough to to avert the climate crisis.

While I agree that not enough is being done about our climate crisis, some of the things that are being discussed in these political arenas hit very close to home and heart for this little ranch sitting in the Rocky Mountains a long way from Copenhagen.

Although I tease and make light of Tom's "day" job, it is something that we are both extraordinarily proud of. Tom runs a precision machine shop, that make the parts that are currently in space and many medical, aerospace and other technological machines that make this country "tick". He is VERY good at what he does and he, and his entire shop take pride not only in a job well done, but doing it by the book. They have gone to great pains (and I do mean pains!) to become ISO 9001 certified, a very complex certification process that they go through to work with these very high tech (and high dollar) companies. This certification is very strictly enforced here in the US; Tom's shop has frequent audits and stringent policies that they must abide by. The problem is that not all countries that are certified are even audited let alone held accountable for the very same standards. Dad, if you want to jump in here about your trip to China, we'd love to hear it! (Dad did jump in, and his comment is below, better yet, his blog has very interesting pictures and details of a very different culture!)

So, this starts bringing up a few of my concerns, we start talking about fair pricing and things like that, it makes Tom and I very nervous. We do understand that other countries may not be as industrialized as we are, and that we have made our share of the mistakes, but those countries have also had the benefits of learning from those same mistakes along with the huge strides we, as Americans, have made in the mean time. This cap and trade thing could be a little dangerous also. From what this one little ol' blogger can gather, it appears as if companies that have nothing at all to do with energy can gather up "credits", that they would not even need, and hoard them to sell back to the companies that do need them. Again, it boils down to extremes, while I am all for saving the planet, I think if there is any one group that is going to get rich quick off of it, something is not right.

So, for Blog Action Day, that is my advice, always take action, do something about it. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and whatever else feels right to you to help make this planet a better place to live and thrive.

Have a miracle of a day!