Inspiration from “An Inconvenient Truth”
This is the third official installment of the weekly Monday lunch blog. Please do check in the rest of the week for other posts.
In last week’s post, I discussed a recently-released movie titled “The 11th Hour,” a documentary on climate and environmental change. I mentioned I was going to watch “An Inconvenient Truth” soon, so I did over the weekend. (I’ve left my quotes at home so I’ll put them in later.)
This film was, as critics often say, eye-opening. I couldn’t believe the amount of information I didn’t know, and how much of it is shocking, and how much of it MAKES SENSE! There is absolutely no doubt that unnatural, human-produced global warming is occuring. The film wasn’t nearly as frightening as I expected, but rather insightful and very optimistic that we can change and we must. That the individual has so much power to make an impact on the environment is probably one of the few ways in which one person can truly be world-changing. (I personally think one person’s vote is, unfortunately, quite unimportant in the grand scheme of a Canadian or American election; it is the force of all of them that swings the result.) Small measures at home can, in fact, make grand changes: changing a lightbulb, turning off some lights, switching to energy-efficient appliances, taking shorter showers, adjusting thermostats and hanging clothes to dry.
It doesn’t need to be inconvenient.
Gore made a great point when showing the economy versus the earth on a scale. While the earth can exist without the economy, there is no economy without the earth. This is where we live, where our future exists. Why are we so hesitant to protect it?
People are lazy. I’ll admit I am, but I’m also extremely passionate about these issues, so I’m doing my part because I am incapable of not doing it. I put only baking soda, vinegar and water down the drain or into the air when I wash the house — no nasty chemicals. I turn off lights in rooms not in use (honestly people, this has been common sense taught to us as kids; lighten up… it wouldn’t be an issue if it was being done), I use energy-efficient compact fluorescent, and I take public transit to work. I have eliminated most chemical products from my cosmetics, with very little effort, and I’m proud to know I’m doing myself and my planet good. Why? As the journalist in “Blood Diamond” put it, “maybe I just give a sh**.”
At the same time as one’s actions are important, so are one’s words: make noise. Sign a petition. Support governments that are making key changes and sticking to them. Pressure the ones that aren’t. Write to your newspaper, your MLA or your Representative. Educate your children, your friends and your parents.
There is no better time than now.
