I Can’t Shut Up Anymore!

I know, most of you are saying, “Wait, when have you ever shut up?” But I do sometimes edit what I say here for fear of offending some readers, but I just can’t worry about it anymore!  I just watched “Chasing Coral,” a multi-award winning documentary on Netflix and was so affected witnessing the devastation of our coral reefs, I whipped into action. I am not a diver and I’m a barely capable swimmer, but this isn’t about saving coral reefs just because they’re beautiful to look at, the death of coral reefs is a very serious threat to our planet and it’s been going on for decades.

“Chasing Coral,” is all about the impact global warming is having on our coral reefs. They’re dying because the temperature of the ocean is rising. Some sources say the earth has lost half of it’s coral reefs in the last 30 years. The documentary was created and researched with the help of some outstanding scientists and marine biologists and they all agree, coral is a fundamental part of a huge ecosystem.

If there’s one thing science teaches us it’s that all life is connected. If you get rid of one thing “you” might not consider important, it affects everything else.  I’ll pick something annoying like mosquitoes. Everyone hates them. Let’s say we eradicated all mosquitoes — then what would creatures like birds and bats eat? Pretty soon all sorts of species would die, just because of stupid annoying mosquitoes. That’s the way it is with coral reefs, which are neither stupid,nor annoying. They are gorgeous and they’re home to an amazing number of fish and sea animals. If you think their death isn’t going to affect sea life, and you, you are badly mistaken.

I don’t care where you stand politically, you cannot deny this.  You have to know that global warming is real and is going to kill our planet if we don’t do something about it, today.  We can’t wait and we can’t ignore this. We’ve ignored it for too long and a huge percentage of our coral reefs are dead because of it. It’s even more important for each of us to act now that President Trump has taken us out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

I’m sure you heard about the iceberg that just broke off from Antartica — if you hadn’t heard about it, one did just break off and it’s the size of Delaware.  It certainly didn’t break off because the oceans are getting colder.  It’s another sign — global warming strikes again.

What can you, one person,  do to change the world?  The same thing I’m doing.  Watch the documentary. It’s on Netflix. If you don’t have Netflix, then you should get it. It’s the best $9.99 a month you’ll ever spend.  Not only are there great documentaries on it, there are also tons of great TV shows, movies and comedy specials.

What else can you do?  Check out this article from National Geographic called 14 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Own Carbon Footprint!

One of the ways is recycling. Here’s a quote from that article: “Recycle. The EPA estimates that recycling glass, aluminum, plastic, and paper could save 582 pounds of CO2 per year, equivalent to more than 600 miles of driving.”

I’ve been a recycling maniac for years, because recycling does make a difference –even washing plastic ziplock bags and using them again and again. Many people look at me like I’m nuts. People say, “Oh that’s unsanitary!” I think the only people who say that come from the plastic bag industry. So far no one’s died or gotten sick in my family, so I say wash those plastic bags, use them again and then recycle them.

Even if there is no recycling in your community, contact your local officials and get some started.  You can change the world! Even if you don’t have recycling trucks with your weekly garbage pick-up, there are undoubtedly recycling centers somewhere near you. Just take your recycling there once a week and keep badgering local officials to get it. They’ll start recycling just to keep you quiet! Talk to your local retailers and get them to recycle. I wrote a blog about this before called “Drowning in Plastic Bags.” There is contact information in there for 18 major retailers.  Bug them to recycle and don’t shop there if they don’t.

Also, reduce the number of trips you take in your car, or carpool, or take the bus, or get a car that’s a hybrid, or fuel efficient. It’s not a matter of how cheap gas is, it’s a matter of saving our planet!  As soon as I save up enough money I am absolutely doing that!

Eat less beef.  According to that National Geographic article, “Every pound of beef served is equivalent to releasing about 19 lbs of greenhouse gases.”  Skip the burger.  In fact, if you watch another documentary I just talked about in last week’s blog, called, “What the Health,” you won’t want to eat much meat anyway.

There is lots more you can do like write to your local and national politicians and let them know how you feel. I know I probably sound crazed right now, but this is really important.  The old saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” is very true.  Sadly, the only thing necessary for the destruction of our planet,  is also for us to do nothing.  I can’t just sit here and let that happen without marshaling my band of family, friends and fabulous followers to do what we can while there’s still time.

Please spread this message around to your family and friends and re-post it on Facebook as if our planet depended on it, because it does.