So yesterday, some pretty bad news was released about CO2 worldwide emissions. In a nutshell, Al Gore was right. We are directly on target to a total disaster in the form of a 6 degree Celsius increase in the temperature of the planet translated to around 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course the end of the century is 88 years away so who cares, right? I'll be dead by then anyway.
My children won't be. Your children won't be.
My grandchildren won't be and neither will yours.
To prevent this disaster, we really can't rely on our governments to take action. We can't rely on other nations to do the right thing. We can't rely on some unthought of new invention that will stabilize the planet. We can't rely on some incredibly slow timetable and plan for change that includes shifting 7 billion people to clean energy. What we can rely on is yoga.
The founding principle of yoga is Ahimsa or nonviolence. This means that you should practice nonviolence in thought, word, and deed. How can you save the planet with this principle?
THOUGHT: Every morning when you arise express gratitude for the beauty that is mother nature. This is really going to shift the experience that you have with the earth. If you got to know the earth, the pain and suffering that it is experiencing would become your own. This is what would happen:
- You would stop eating so much meat which contributes to the CO2 emissions, not to mention make a small dent in the 10 billion animals that we kill each year in America to eat cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. (here's the report on cow's and CO2>>>)
- You would look at the empty spaces in your yard and think how lovely it would be to plant a tree. You personally make 2.3 tons of CO2 each year. One tree consumes 2.6 tons in a year. Do the math. Plant one tree each year and you are offsetting your footprint.
- You would plant a garden. Did you know that most of the food you eat travels 1,500 to 2,500 miles? How sweet would it be to walk from your back door to a potted plant or a little garden and help yourself?
- The next time you are at Wal-mart, Target, Costco, Ikea or the mall, you would stop and pause and look around the 50,000 square feet of garbage and perhaps think..."oh my God...all of this came from the earth! I really don't need any more landfill that takes 1,000 years to decompose. I just really don't need any more unnecessary junk."
WORD: Spread the message. Teach your children, your friends and your family the importance of spending time in nature, planting a garden, consuming less, driving less, consolidating trips, turning the air conditioner up, wanting less and appreciating what you have more. This is what would happen:
- You would become an ambassador for the planet. You will touch other people with your passion and commitment and then they will touch other people and so on and so on.
- The word would get out the way it does in America, through the green voting system. When I say "green" voting, I'm talking about money. If we collectively demanded to only spend our money on sustainable energy, goods and food, the ears of Wall Street and our government would listen.
EVERY TIME YOU CHOOSE TO SPEND MONEY ON ANYTHING YOU ARE VOTING
DEED: Take action. Do something. Do something today. Shifts in consciousness begin with one person. Choose the better choice and will start the shift. This is what would happen:
- By the end of this century, we could have clean water and air.
- By the end of this century, there would only be clean energy.
- By the end of this century, no one would be hungry and without water.
- By the end of this century, your grandchildren will live in a Utopia that we can't imagine.
As you read through the links below, ask yourself, "Is this the end of times?" If you are 1 out of 5 children in American who is hungry, the answer is yes. If you are 1 of the 3.6 million people dying each year due to disease from water, the answer is yes. If you are 1 of the almost 900 million who don't have access to clean water, the answer is yes. If you are 1 of the almost 35% of black or hispanic children living in American and in poverty, the answer is yes. Yes. This is most certainly the end of times. Take action. Do something.
LINKS TO EDUCATE YOU:
CO2 emissions rose by 3.2 percent last year to 31.6 billion tonnes, preliminary estimates from the Paris-based IEA showed.
China,
the world's biggest emitter of CO2, made the largest contribution to
the global rise, its emissions increasing by 9.3 percent, the body said,
driven mainly by higher coal use.
"When I look at this data, the
trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6 degrees
Celsius (towards the end of this century), which would have devastating
consequences for the planet," Fatih Birol, IEA's chief economist told
Reuters.
3.575 million people die each year from water related diseases (size of LA)
884 million people lack access to clean water (3x the population of America)
Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water related illness
Human activity has been increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (mostly
carbon dioxide
from combustion of coal, oil, and gas; plus a few other trace gases).
There is no scientific debate on this point. Pre-industrial levels of
carbon dioxide (prior to the start of the Industrial Revolution) were
about 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv), and current levels are
greater than 380 ppmv and increasing at a rate of 1.9 ppm yr
-1 since 2000. The global concentration of CO
2
in our atmosphere today far exceeds the natural range over the last
650,000 years of 180 to 300 ppmv. According to the IPCC Special Report
on Emission Scenarios (SRES), by the end of the 21
st century,
we could expect to see carbon dioxide concentrations of anywhere from
490 to 1260 ppm (75-350% above the pre-industrial concentration).
The poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent in 2010—its highest rate
since 1993. The African American poverty rate was 27.4 percent, the
Hispanic rate was 26.6 percent, and the white rate was 9.9 percent in
2010. The poverty rate for children under the age of 18 stood at 22
percent. More than one-third of African American children (39.1 percent)
lived in poverty in 2010, compared to 35 percent of Hispanic children
and 12.4 percent of white children. The prolonged economic slump,
following an exceptionally weak labor market before the crisis, has
taken a massive toll on the most vulnerable.
