Goal For The Green

The calendar says it’s Spring , but Winter is still hanging on here in Washington State.  On April 11th, we had one day of eighty degrees. The next day, it was barely above fifty and more rain. We’ve even had Spring snow, twice this month. No, not just a dusting, but inches. Most nights still drop down into the 30’s, and most days have been lucky to see 50 degrees.

Yes it’s true we have always been criticized for our weather here, but it’s usually pretty mild and comfortable. I haven’t seen too many people breaking out their shorts and sandals yet, not here. We haven’t put away our winter clothes yet, or gotten our gardens planted for the most part. It will be no doubt be a short growing season.  The recent snow we had has potentially damaged our apple, cherry, pear, and asparagus crops that are grown in Eastern Washington.  This Winter has brought record snow to our mountains. Two of our ski resorts are still open and it’s almost May. That’s always great news for the skiers, but if we get what we call the Pineapple Express, (warm air  current from Hawaii) like we did in December, we will see more record flooding. 

It is rare that our weather here makes national news. Most recently, it was our snow that made headlines. In December, it was the worst flooding Washington has seen in the last 100 years.  Most areas had 3-5 inches of snow on the ground. The Pineapple Express came through and dumped seventeen inches of rain non-stop in less than twenty-four hours. There are some areas in our state that are still recovering, and locally just last month several road repairs were completed.

It’s not just our weather that is strange though. Over the weekend the Pasadena area had temperatures of 100 degrees and the first wildfire of the season. A couple of months earlier than usual. Today, there were terrible twisters in Virginia. It seems there are few states that haven’t experienced a natural disaster or weather phenomenon, in the last five years. Perhaps Mother Nature is sending us a wake-up call to take better care of our planet. Let’s hope there is still time to change our ways and turn back time. We should have paid more attention thirty years ago to warnings of what could happen. Now our planet is in crisis and Mother Nature is fighting back.

Image via Wikipedia

Our Earth, is in a Fragile Condition.

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions, in order to ward off a dangerous rise in global temperatures, may be more of a challenge than previously thought.

Scientists, have published studies in the last month, suggesting that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether by mid century.  This means, that both industrial and developing nations, must use other fuel sources, instead of fossil fuels, during this same suggested time frame. We must do this, in order to prevent warming, that could change weather precipitation patterns, and greatly alter or dry up water sources, globally.

There was a meeting on the issue in Paris, France last week, that involved the countries of China, India , France, Germany,and the United States, among others. The countries represented, produce 80% of the world’s greenhouse gasses, and are among the worlds fastest growing economies.

President Bush, stated in his speech, that the United States would cut it’s CO2 emissions, and other heat-trapping gases by the year 2025.  Most of the world arena, considered his speech to be a huge disappointment. Many nations consider President Bush, as an obstacle to the fight against global warming. Over the past year, he has shown more awareness of the dangers of planetary warming, and human-caused carbon emissions. Although, it was the first time he has set a specific target date. The problem, is we need to address these problems well before the year 2025.  Several attendees, felt the speech “takes a huge step backward.”  Other critics feel, the United States needs to “cut emissions, – not just limit their growth.”  If we set the example, and cut our emissions, perhaps other developing nations would follow our lead, because some countries still look at us, as having the world’s largest economy.

During this conference, there was also a push, for ways to expand the use of bio fuels, beyond the use of corn and other food crops. The growing use of bio fuels, has been blamed for rising food prices and grain shortages, which have caused riots in some countries.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, much has changed.  Now, we find our Earth in crisis. There are answers, even if it does seem like too little to late. We need to stop our dependence on fossil fuels, and have a government more willing to look at the other options, that have been on the shelf for far too long.  We need to wake-up and push for green energy policies, in hopes of turning back the clock, on our Fragile Earth.

When you apply here for a personal bank loan, you not only get the best loan for your circumstances, but it is paid out with the minimum fuss and as quickly as humanly possible.