I hope what I am about to say doesn’t get me kicked out of the gardening blogosphere, but I don’t know whether “Global Warming” or “Climate Change” or whatever it is being called is true. And quite frankly, I don’t care if it is true or not. Before you leave a nasty comment or send me hate mail (fern@lifeonthebalcony.com), allow me to explain.
Some days, I see news articles that claim our polar ice caps are shrinking, while other days they are supposedly expanding. Our bad behavior is supposed to be causing the planet to warm up, yet we’ve been having winter records for cold temperatures and snow. In the 70s, we thought that human behavior was causing the planet to cool off. So it sometimes appears to me that global warming is just the latest fad for the sky-is-falling-we’re-all-going-to-die-apocalypse-is-tomorrow crew. Plus, Al Gore makes my skin crawl.
That being said, whether the planet is warming up, cooling down, whether ocean levels are rising or falling, and whether any of this is caused by humans or is just part of the normal cycle of our planet, it doesn’t change our civic and patriotic duty to use our resources wisely and to protect and improve the planet. We’re all in this together. We have a responsibility to our neighbors, countrymen, and to the rest of the people living on this rock to use what we have wisely. When we waste resources and pollute the planet, we all suffer.
In California, we’re facing a severe drought, and yet homeowners and companies still want miles of green grass and water-greedy landscaping surrounding their homes and offices. People still hose off their property rather than sweeping it, still wash their cars in their driveway, still take excessively long showers, and on and on and on. Southern Californians are living in a desert. We pipe in our water from hundreds of miles away. Is it going to take turning on the faucet and having nothing come out to get us to change our behavior?
The economic downturn has forced a lot of people to look at the excesses in their lives, how wasteful they were, how lazy they had become, how metaphorically fat we all were during economic good times. People are now planting victory gardens like crazy in an effort to get back to a time when we were resourceful and entrepreneurial, hardworking and frugal. But let’s take this opportunity to expand those values that we’re trying to get back. They shouldn’t stop at our wallet (although there are plenty of economic reasons to conserve). Let’s be resourceful and entrepreneurial, hardworking and frugal when it comes to the environment as well.
For example, it doesn’t cost you a dime to put a bucket under the faucet while your shower is warming up. You could use that water to water your plants. When planning your container garden, try and find plants that will need very little supplemental watering. And use bigger pots that dry out less quickly. I am sure that if you aren’t secretly forming a voo doo doll that looks surprisingly like me and stabbing me repeatedly for suggesting that the jury is still out on global warming, you could come up with some ways to be resourceful too.
Conserving resources is like saving money at the grocery store. You save by making a lot of small changes, not a few big ones. If everytime you use water, gas, coal, wood, etc, you are thinking of how you can use just the amount you need and not waste any of it, then you’re net behavior will make a difference.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
What a brave and provocative post, Fern. No matter what each of us believes about global warming (or Al Gore, lol), I think the crux of your message it doesn’t change our civic and patriotic duty to use our resources wisely and to protect and improve the planet is spot on.
invisiblebees–Whew. I was really hemming and hawing about posting that I am ambivialent about global warming. I thought all my fellow gardening buddies might never talk to me again. So glad that you don’t hate me!!!
Sometimes I think that all the attention paid to global warming is essentially misdirection–while we’re focused on that, what else are we missing?
Bravo Fern!!! So glad you spoke up (and who cares what other people think).
I’ve been studying Law of Attraction principles, which says that we attract more of what we focus on.
Let’s all focus on the positive aspects of our planet…
I appreciate sunshine.
I appreciate clouds and rainy days.
I appreciate…fill in the blank, the list is endless!
Jenny — Good point. It’s not the only thing going on, and perhaps not even the most important.
Patti–Sounds good to me! I appreciate plants with interesting foliage!
Wow, Fern! Kudos on that post.
It exactly matches my thoughts. I also live in sunny India and we also face similar issues as you describe.
This post is well timed as I was reading an article in the papers just today that plants absorb more greenhouse gases when the air is polluted, so our supposed ‘bad behavior’ seems good
. So, it is an even more complex issue than being propagated. Here is the link to the original news if anyone is interested [http://www.ceh.ac.uk/news/news_archive/2009_news_item_16.html].
While the scientists decide what is best, we should just continue conserving resources, as you rightly conclude.
Totally agree with you Patti!
Ok, I have to say it. I’m an entomologist (the study of insects) and global warming is a fact accepted by the majority of the scientific community. Climate change is not weather change and there are varying effects. In the insect world, there have been extinctions and changes in populations because of global warming especially in high-altitude ecosystems. That being said, water conservation is a good thing as is examining your environmental impact.
Thank-you for this post, Fern.
Although I disagree with you about global warming, I appreciate the bigger point: Even if climate change weren’t happening, living and gardening as sustainably as possible, co-operating with nature rather than trying to conquer it, would still be important.
And I love your suggestion about the shower water. I’ve always felt guilty about the water wasted while it heats up, but somehow never thought of the obvious way to save it. I’m going to put a bucket in my bathroom… as soon as I put my voodoo doll away
BTW, I just discovered your blog a couple of weeks ago, and it’s quickly become my favourite gardening website. Thanks for sharing!
Jess–I would think as a scientist you’d be more careful tossing around words like “fact.” Fact means there is no room for disagreement, and I know for a fact that there are scientists that disagree with you. I don’t know one way or the other, but I do know that there are arguments on both sides.
You might find these articles by scientists (one a physicist at Princeton and one meteorologist at MIT) interesting:
great tips about conservation, regardless of how you feel about global warming. we should conserve our precious resources no matter what…
it doesn’t really matter why one makes changes (shorter showers, less plastic, etc), but rather that they make them. it’s just the responsible citizen thing to do…take care of what we have. that’s why i don’t think it should be a political issue at all…
I’m not opening the climate change can o’ worms (it’s late!) but your point about the end result for all of us is totally true. It IS patriotic to conserve and be good stewards of our land and resources.
And I love this:
I am sure that if you aren’t secretly forming a voo doo doll that looks surprisingly like me and stabbing me repeatedly for suggesting that the jury is still out on global warming, you could come up with some ways to be resourceful too.
Now THAT’S a call to action!!! Damn straight.
Laughing,
Gen
Sorry, I have to pipe in. Jesse is right to point out that there is a big difference between observing the weather and measuring the climate. I understand why many people, including some scientists are still not sure, but it’s important to talk about why so many scientists are convinced. Weather in individual places over time might be warmer or cooler year to year or season to season–there are always those types of variations. What makes many scientists worry is the changes in average temperatures world wide. Also, as Jesse said biologists are finding many plants and animals who are changing their ranges or flowering earlier. If you want to monitor climate change for yourself and help scientists you could join the National Phenology Network. Their volunteers have been monitoring the dates of flower blooms (lilac and honeysuckle since 1956). http://www.usanpn.org/ It’s normal to see flowers bloom earlier one year and later another, but when you monitor for decades and the average bloom date gets earlier and earlier, that’s when scientists start to worry.
Your post makes a good point about conservation, we shouldn’t need the threat of climate change in order to be good stewards. I just wanted to point out that it’s common for people to look at year to year variations and wonder where the evidence is, but a climate scientist is looking at decades or centuries (if they are looking a CO2 levels in frozen ice.)
Gen–Glad you liked that line. I considered editing it out since it was kind of a run-on sentence and hard to follow.
gardengrrl–Thanks for leaving such a thoughtful comment, I think you definitely provide some food for thought. I understand that looking at one year’s worth of data isn’t enough to detect a long-term trend, I was just trying to keep this post light-hearted. It is a container gardening blog, afterall. People don’t pay me the big bucks to spout off on my political opinions! I just really wanted to make the point that people who are ambivalent about global warming shouldn’t use their ambivalence to neglect their responsibility to be good stewards.
It’s called evolution, folks!
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