Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blog Action Day: Stop hitting the snooze button and wake up!

I am not an activist.  I didn't start this blog to voice my opinions about what is right and wrong in the world.  I simply wanted a place to go to vent my frustrations, to document my observations, and to amuse myself and anyone else who cared to come along for the ride. But if I were to deliberately avoid speaking out about the elephant in the room; if I deliberately turned the other cheek and said I don't want to talk about an issue because it's too scary, too big, too political, too whatever...well, that would not be cool. 

Today is Blog Action Day and the topic is Climate Change.  I have been prompted by this event to talk about Planet Earth.  The timing is perfect.  I'm smack dab in the middle of a project that deals with this very issue.  I've been researching all things global warming and the truth is my friends, it is a very scary issue indeed.  But to do nothing, to say nothing, to remain apathetic would be the worst thing of all.

The news is bleak.  The numbers are alarming.  But the good news is, that the fat lady has not yet sung, and there's still time to do something about it.  Yeah...YOU!  You can do something.  WE can do something about it.  I am the type of person that gets overwhelmed by the big picture, and I won't lie...this is overwhelming to me, and I thought, "What can I do?  Little ol' me?  This is something that needs to be tackled by world leaders and people with important titles after their names." Wrong.  I am learning that helping out even on the smallest scale will have an impact.  If EVERYONE pitches in, the work it will take to clean up this mess will get done. 

One step at a time. I have to keep telling myself that with all things I try to accomplish.  But I can recycle.  I can reduce my water usage.  When I can, I'll walk instead of taking the car.  I can change my lightbulbs to the more energy efficient ones.  I can make these adjustments.  You can too.  It's not as hard as you think.  Yes, you can leave the big stuff to the big guns.  But in the meantime, stop taking for granted the beauty of this planet.  You'll miss it when it's gone.  You really will. 

Thanks for listening.  And now we will return to our regularly scheduled programming.  Peace.

2 comments:

James Rogers said...

Hey Debbie,

I just wanted to let you know that you can count me as a fan of your writing as well. I've been reading your blogs, and some of your ehow articles too. I totally agree with you on the fact that we "little people" can have a positive impact with regard to helping reverse some of the damage that we have inflicted on the earth and our climate.

I also thought I'd let you know that your writing has inspired me to devote more time to my own writing. I've written about 52 pages of my own memoirs (which is really just for my own personal purposes, and to help me practice the craft of writing). I've also been working on my fiction novel that has been a work in progress for about 4 years now (although I've really only seriously devoted about a year total to this project).

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that with you and say hello too. I hope you're doing well, and enjoying the fall.

Take care,

Jim Rogers

Anonymous said...

Well said. You are right: We can all do something. And if millions of people do something, that does add up to a lot. You said it much better than I can. --- MikeB