HEALTHY PLANET: WHAT MATTERS?

I'm baaaack!  I know I'm a sporadic poster here.  This time I have a pretty good excuse.  Hub and I went on a 3-week vacation that took up most of September.  We traveled through Ireland on a tour as well as some time on our own.  It was a lovely trip.  Hub took many, many photos of energy-producing windmills.  I don't know why.  I think it's because his radar is always up for anything climate-change related.  We learned coal-fired energy production is still a thing and drove past a couple of the plants.  But windmills were in abundance in certain places as well, with plans to move more off-shore in the future.  Their government policy is to reduce greenhouse gases by 51% by 2030. 

The effects of climate change are all around us right now, literally in the air we breathe as once again this year smoke hangs in the air from a nearby forest fire that seems to be particularly persistent.  I read the other day it has been determined the cause was human misadventure of some sort.  It has burned for many weeks now, all the way to the edge of a main east/west highway over the mountain pass, closing that route for many travelers and residents who use it to commute back and forth.

Skeptics will say "human caused fires" are not about the climate.  Yes, they are, as they become more common and more persistent due to disease and drought which ARE climate-related. It's all connected.  Mother Nature...get it?

And of course, Hurricane Ian recently wrecked its havoc in Florida, as a Category 4, "500 year storm", devastating coastal areas up and down the east coast.  These storms are more frequent (much closer together than 500 years), much bigger, and much more damaging to human life (as we persist in developing coastal areas for recreation and habitation), as ocean waters warm and jet streams go wonky.  (That's a scientific term.)

Is this fixable anymore?  Hub is taking a course online for which the premise is we are now in "climate collapse".  We can't stop it.  We're screwed.  This is depressing.

He showed me a chart from the course that I found discouraging.  Here I sit writing about plastics recycling and dutifully dividing my 'plastic film' from my 'multi-layer plastics' from my 'recyclable plastic' from my 'clamshell' plastic....and for what?  Is any of this even making a dent in what we are facing?  I see that I am naively in the second column of the chart, with awareness of all the issues being interconnected from the third column.  

We had to quickly go out and buy some quantity of fruit last week for a family get-together.  We discussed that at Costco all of this would come in clamshell packaging.  I said, "Oh well, I guess that matters little in the collapse scenario."  I was obviously discouraged and ready to give up.  

Still.....there's total collapse and then there's not that bad of a collapse?  Is taking no action in the face of disaster the wise choice?  NO!  We can begin to mitigate the extent of the disaster with our every day actions.  The Inflation Reduction Act with its big pay out for climate policy is a start and is very encouraging.  We, as citizens, can still do our every day absolute best to live more lightly on the earth, with increasing information and awareness of how we made this mess, to knock it off, and take responsibility for helping clean it up best we can in order not to leave some barren armageddon for our grandkids.

So, I'm gonna keep on keepin' on with my efforts.  I hope you will too.  It's what we can do.

Here's to health, for ourselves and our planet. ©

Photo Credit: Hub, Official Trip Photographer; Chart: www.heartcommunitygroup.org

HEALTHY PLANET: RANDOM THOUGHTS ON CAMPING -- PLASTIC, FIRE, FUEL, AND NATURE

Hub and I took a trip in our truck camper last week to beautiful Mt. Rainier.  We stayed in our favorite campground which is smaller and quieter than many -- no hook-ups, mostly people looking for peace and hiking trails. 

It is very hard to be a "comfort" camper and still be Earth-Friendly.  I totally own that.  I have gone along on camping trips with Hub for over 50 years -- tents, backpacking, tent-trailering, and now in a truck camper with all the bells and whistles, but we rarely use all it can do because we don't want to run the obnoxious generator to power the thing.  Hub got a big portable solar panel and batteries to keep the lights on and that works great. 

I am not a big fan of camping anyway, so I am not going to sleep in a tent and live the outdoor life at a picnic table.  And I'm DEFINITELY not going to carry my worldly possessions on my back to a wilderness site.  I get that these would be much greener options.  And I spent many years doing all of that.  No more.  I am not at peace with my decision vis-a-vis my commitment to earth stewardship, but I am sure about it nonetheless.

And ... there are real life consequences:

The big diesel Chevy truck that carries the camper in its bed is a gas-guzzler made more so with the extra weight of the fully loaded camper.  (We are eager for greater electric truck availability!)  Propane fuels the heater (currently broken, so we didn't use it), refrigerator, and stove.  We hate wood fires (breathing that particulate matter into our lungs, enduring sore throats and watery eyes, and stinking like a smoke jumper when we climb into bed) so Hub got a small propane-fueled fire ring.  We fire it up, gaze a bit, make a couple of S'mores, and turn it off.  

We take reusable storage containers with us for leftover food.  We used them for our sandwiches and chips to eat on our hikes too, sticking them in the daypack even though bulky.  In a previous life trail lunches would have gone into throw-away plastic baggies.  Some progress.  But being plastic-aware didn't really make up for the fossil fuel-fueled camper trip, did it?

I guess there is no way to be 100% "pure" with any of this.  I am doing much better with much greater awareness than ever before.  I am not perfect.  I tell myself one camping trip this summer isn't so bad, right?  But multiply that by millions of people driving RVs, 5th wheels, pulling trailers, carrying truck campers, and rolling along in their camper vans and we've got a very earth-stressful leisure activity going on, don't we?

Maybe being out in nature, taking in the glory of a National Park, an ocean beach, a mountain trail, or a rushing stream can bring us back to our senses and help us see that Mother Nature carries on without us being there at all.  Go see her as lightly as you can, with deep respect and intention, then go home and do your best to honor her by letting her be. Take some personal action in daily life decisions and support politicians and policies that will save her.  It's the least we can do.

Here's to health...for ourselves and our planet. ©

Photo: Not Mt Rainier -- somewhere in 2017 in my photo library.

HEALTHY PLANET: CELEBRATING A VICTORY!

Well, surprise, surprise!  And hip, hip, hooray!  This past week the Congress passed and the President signed the Inflation Reduction Act passed through the Senate budget reconciliation process that required only a majority vote, not the filibuster-blocking 60%.  A month ago this bill was DEAD.  But somehow in the backrooms and bars, in emails and phone calls, through text messages and Twitter feeds something broke loose and out of the blue (it seemed) within mere days it was done.  The Democrats in the Senate were finally all behind it; the Republicans all against it.  The Democratic V.P. was the tie-breaker. The bill heads to the House where it is a sure thing the Democrats will support and the Republicans will oppose. It will pass since Dems have the majority.  The President will sign it into law and here we are!  (P.S. Voting counts.  I hate that all the great things in this bill -- not just climate stuff -- is seen as "partisan".  It's crazy to oppose legislation that will help people, and even which their constituents support, just to stick to the opposing party in a tantrum of party unity over doing the right thing. Democracy broken.)

I'm not going to recount the machinations that got us here, the drama and frustration, the misleading statements and outright lying, the promises and maddening compromises, nor will I outline everything that's in the bill (and what got left out -- which is the disappointing part), because the point is: huzzah! Something got passed and that something is way more than nothing and pretty darn good.

It's easy to criticize that it should have gone further, but to have any bill at all is the cause for celebration.  This is a big piece of legislation that will make a big difference.  We can celebrate the victory of this, while continuing to work for more and better.  That's how this goes.  

Our planet is finally getting some attention.  Part of this bill addresses climate change.  Maybe it's the wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods -- the real consequences of ignoring Mother Nature coming home to roost in every corner of the world.  Maybe it's relentless activism and consciousness raising.  Maybe it's a younger generation rising up to demand their future be livable.  Maybe it's economics -- the world is changing and politicians and corporations finally see some incentive to cash in. 

Whatever it is, this is a good thing that just happened.  I know many folks disagree.  That's OK.  Even if they don't see it, don't get it, and outright oppose it, it's gonna benefit them and their kids and grandkids anyway.  You're welcome.

I'm not an expert on any of this.  My husband is the "climate guy" in our family, giving talks on the health impacts of climate change, working with various organizations to educate the public and lobby the politicians.  But I'm a concerned citizen trying to do what I can in any small way -- the whole plastic thing I've been writing about for example and bugging my local, state, and national representatives to get behind legislation.

So, I'm delighted that $300 billion is earmarked for energy and climate justice reform.  Electrification of transportation, tax credits for electrical consumer goods (cars!), investment in renewable energy infrastructure, limits on greenhouse gas emissions.  All good things; all good places to start to make a difference.

We can and should take every personal action we can to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. And I'll get back to that in future posts. Climate change is human made and needs human intervention.  But our small efforts pale in comparison to sweeping policy change that can have huge, nation-wide, world-wide impacts.  That's why this is cause for celebration.  Let's push on! 🎉

Here's to health, for ourselves and our planet...©

Photo Credit: pixabay.com