The Impact Of Our Footprint

By : Dennis Stein

 Are you trying to do your part to combat global warming? Do you bring cloth bags to the grocery store, instead of asking for plastic bags at the check out? Have you replaced the light bulbs in your house with compact flourescents, or LED's? Do you do everything they tell you in magazines and on TV, because of the 'going green' idea?
 Care must be taken, because although the issue of global climate change is important, there are many out there who see the opportunity to profit from an issue that is at the forefront of society. If you drive down the highway, and see a transport truck with skirts to help cut wind resistance under the trailer, is that because, like the logo on those skirts says, the trucking company has 'gone green'? NO, they are operating as always, the skirts are simply there to help save fuel in the face of rising fuel prices... So why jump on the 'green' bandwagon? Because it's the new buzzword, a marketing tool for the green revolution. Do we save the planet by buying environmentally friendly products? Probably not. I recycle, I have replaced the bulbs, I try to conserve energy. Our household cannot seem to conserve toilet paper, milk, or cat food for some reason. I don't know what they are doing with it, but it seems that I have to come home from the store with it far too often...Am I making a difference? Not likely. My not using electricity simply makes me wonder if my Hydro One delivery charges go up, and now instead of incandescent bulbs, which are not a real problem, I have CFL's in the house which each contain mercury. Green this and green that. I like the idea of being environmentally responsible, but what I hate is the fact that what we attempt to save, someone else seems to use up. Some would argue that the earth has been going through warmer or cooler cycles since before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but hey, with 6 billion of us here, all spewing polutants into the atmoshphere, we must be contributing to climate change somewhat, right? The fact of the matter is that things will likely have to get quite a bit worse before the majority of people actually sit up and take notice. I hope that somehow humanity can get it together, and find solutions to these monumental issues that need to be looked at NOW.
 Superpowers like the United States and China are slowly starting to engage policies involving global warming. Some smaller island nations worry that they will experience the 'end of their history' as rising sea levels may wipe their country from the face of the Earth. Large things to consider indeed, with no easy solution in sight. So the next time you roll down the window and pitch that cigarette/coffee cup/receipt/anything.... STOP. We can't even hope to accomplish anything with Climate Change if we don't start with the little things...