A changing climate: The what of it all

By LAURIE STUART
Posted 4/20/22

While unusual, a late April snowstorm is not a precedent. It’s a reminder that we live in a world with unpredictable weather patterns that grow more ferocious with time. Some call it climate …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

A changing climate: The what of it all

Posted

While unusual, a late April snowstorm is not a precedent. It’s a reminder that we live in a world with unpredictable weather patterns that grow more ferocious with time. Some call it climate change. Others call it a climate crisis.

It’s a wake-up call of sorts. An opportunity to reflect on our habits, how we use precious resources and the relevance and importance of the choices we make. It’s an emerging awareness of the effects of those choices on our health and the environment.

Annually, we use 1.5 times the resources than can be recovered. It is not sustainabie.

It’s human nature to shy away from what is too large to solve. A climate crisis falls into that category.

And while we may or may not have passed a tipping point for slowing down climate change, we can recognize that there are incremental changes we can make, as long as we’re aware of the challenges.

In these pages, we examine the rising temperatures of our local landscape and how that affects our gardens and the changing seasons.

We take a look at how we keep our houses warm and cool and begin to understand embodied energy (how much energy is used to make a particular product) and the amount of greenhouse gas emmissions are released as we use it.

With this expanded awareness, we can comprehend how the small steps we take give us agency, the ability to act. We can determine our future.

When awareness leads to responsible action, we increase our ability to reduce, reuse and repurpose.

It is the what of it all.

snowstorm, climate change, wake-up call, sustainability, embodied energy, greenhouse gas emissions

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here