You can definitely say I’m one of those on this planet now who’s concerned about global warming. I wasn’t really in year’s past though, as experiencing subzero temperatures for many days and even weeks in a row, year after year, here in Toledo where I reside has a way of making one think about anything other than global warming. But, with what I’ve seen in nature in 2021, both here, and around the world, I am definitely growing more and more concerned.
After doing a little research on the internet I learned a lot about global warming. Climate change is intensifying our water cycle. This is turn is bringing about more intense rainfall and associated flooding in some areas or no rainfall whatsoever and intense drought for other areas. The sea level is rising rapidly with coastal flooding and erosion becoming far more frequent now. Extreme weather events that previously occurred here and there are now happening on a regular basis, every single year. I find it so amazing that the small global temperature increases of only a few degrees over the last century have changed so much about our weather and nature on our planet. I was shocked to learn that this cranking up of the temperature is making the oceans alone absorb the heat equivalent of five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water every second. That’s just mind boggling to ponder. The last time it was hotter than it is now is estimated to be at least 125,000 years ago. Earth’s atmosphere is now saturated with so many emissions from human activity, that the warmth it’s trapping is leading to more frequent periods of extreme heat and causing things like a billion sea creatures to die like it did in the Pacific this year alone. At this rate, it’s said that the heat will eventually push societies to the limits with such stifling humidity that will prevent sweat from evaporating and making it difficult for any of us to cool down. The same intense heat will also lead to more and more widespread wildfires, droughts, crop losses, and worse.
That being said, up until 2021, I can honestly say that although I constantly heard about global warming and saw signs of it on the news regularly in coverages of these growing climatic disasters, I never really witnessed it firsthand here at home. But this year, I finally did. Rare diseases hitting my yard and so many others around here well into October, diseases that are only based upon high humidity and heat. Maple trees all getting tarspot and losing their leaves in droves like it’s fall that started back in late June. Seeing insects that usually only have a spring to early summer cycle show up in droves all the way into late summer and early fall. Spiders have exploded in population this year around here! Perennials that normally start to go dormant by mid-September, blooming well in mid-October and even sprouting new growth. Heck, I’m still wearing shorts and t-shirts and October is already midway over. This time last year I was wearing sweatshirts and long pants almost a month earlier!
The fact is, global warming is real, but what can I do? The following is a list of the things I found online that each of us can begin to look into:
- Speak Up (This is my first step in this!)
- Power your home with renewable energy (Someday I’d really like to have a fully solar-powered home!)
- Weatherize (Our home is pretty good with this already thankfully!)
- Invest in energy-efficient appliances (An ongoing process that I have already begun a good while ago!)
- Reduce water waste (Something I struggle doing due to my long showers!)
- Eat the food you buy and make less of it meat (Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me this long ago!)
- But better bulbs (Been doing this one for a good long while already!)
- Pull the plugs (Been doing this one for a good while too!)
- Drive a fuel-efficient vehicle (Yay! My hybrid counts!)
- Maintain your ride (Yay! I definitely do this one too with 280,000 miles and counting!)
- Rethink plants, trains, automobiles in travel (Well the pandemic definitely led to this for me!)
- Shrink your carbon profile (I need to look into this one further!)
All in all, I feel better in knowing I am already doing a good part in reducing global warming. I do hope to own a fully electric vehicle one day and I’m sure eventually all my outdoor equipment will be electric as well. Nevertheless, global warming is eventually going to kill our planet if we don’t each do something about it. I plan to keep doing my part, and hopefully you will too…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
