188 Days Left - The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion

There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn't tell you about it?
— Kin Hubbard (1868 - 1930)

A friend of ours wrote today to tell us some good news (you read about his Global Green Fund idea in yesterday's blog ... the guy's a genius with a good heart) and sent it to practically everyone on his email list. Shameless self-promotion, I call it.

That got me thinking that my action today could be shameless promotion of the work of others — good people fighting the good fight, giving up a lot (time, money, energy and sometimes relationships) to do what they feel they have to do for what they love ... the Earth, the children, life itself.

So here, in no particular order, are the websites of some really great climate heroes, people I count as like-hearted friends.

1. See. Act. Inspire. Glenn MacIntosh is ecoSanity.org. The name says it all. Glenn tells people, "The world's atmosphere is on course to reach a state of unsurvivable extremes within the lifetimes of today's children." He gets the urgency (not to mention the insanity) of global climate disruption. Visit ecoSanity.org especially for fascinating video clips of some fascinating climate warriors.

2.Beatle George Harrison once said, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." Fortunately, we do know where we need to get to, and it's 350 parts per million of CO2 in our atmosphere - or even less - to avert global climate catastrophe. Michael McGee started CO2 Now after taking his young son to hear Al Gore speak about the climate emergency. CO2 Now is "what the world needs to watch.... Global warming is mainly the result of CO2 levels rising in the Earth's atmosphere. Both atmospheric CO2 and climate change are accelerating. Climate scientists say we have years, not decades, to stabilize CO2 and other greenhouse gases. To help the world succeed, CO2Now.org makes it easy to see the most current CO2 level and what it means. So, use this site and keep an eye on CO2. Invite others to do the same. Then we can do more to send CO2 in the right direction

3. My husband, Peter Carter, MD, is a retired family physician. Throughout his adult life, he has been involved in the peace and environmental movements. As a doctor, he knows only too well that climate change is going to be (and in many parts of the world, already is) the biggest public health threat ever. (And that's just on our way to the biggest threat to our very survival ever.) His website for health care professionals is called Climate Change Emergency Medical Response. Check it out for the latest scientific climate research, and for suggested actions that doctors and other health care personnel can take. Hey, why not send it to your doctor?

Yo! Where are the women in this campaign? Oh right, here I am!!! (Just a little shameless self-promotion. ;-)

199 Days - Still A Lot of People Who Don't Understand Climate Change

My "action" today was attending a book launch of a friend and neighbour, Hans Tammemagi. His new book, Air: Our Planet's Ailing Atmosphere, is all about the most important thing on Earth — what we breathe!

Here's a description from the publisher:

"Tammemagi's fascinating exploration of air illustrates that it is far from being an empty void; rather, it is a vast ocean of gases that are layered, constantly mixing, generating weather, and providing the basis of life itself. While illustrating the beauty and mystery of air, Tammemagi also examines its declining quality in chapters that discuss smog over cities (and elsewhere), acid rain, the depletion of stratospheric ozone layer, and, of course, global warming. As a scientist, writer, and activist, Tammemagi explains the key issues associated with air in a clear, lucid, and compelling style. Air is a vital piece of reading on an issue of rapidly growing urgency."

After reading aloud from a few chapters — and admitting that he's feeling rather pessimistic these days — Hans led a discussion amongst the attendees (from our small rural community) that showed how many people still have a lot to learn about the urgency of the climate crisis.

So, fellow educators, how do we reach our neighbours, friends, colleagues, acquaintances? How do we make this most obfuscated of environmental and scientific issues ever, crystal clear for people like several of those I sat with today?

First, let's make sure we understand it ourselves — and find a way to stay up to date with the ever-growing body of research. Try Climate Emergency News, for starters.

Next, let's work together to find that happy medium — somewhere between holding it up to their faces and rubbing their noses in it — that helps people hear, see and learn things they just don't want to open up to.

I guess I'm suggesting that we don't just need compassion for people who are already being impacted by climate change. We also need compassion (no time left for patience) for those who are so far removed from what's happening in other parts of the world that they cannot feel compassion for the most climate-vulnerable people themselves.

Sometimes this isn't easy. So let's go easy on ourselves if we muck it up somehow. We're still learning too! Let me know if you need some morale-boosting or inspiration.