1: It's getting hot...

Hello fellow friends of nature! I thought I'd give a shot at blogging first...

Whether we call it "global warming," "climate change," or the "greenhouse effect," this phenomenon is happening. Why do I think that this is the most pressing challenge? I know what you're thinking...you think I have made global warming the most pressing because I'm worried about the Polar Bears. You're absolutely right! Of course I'm worried about the Polar Bears, but it's not just about those cute, cuddly creatures that most of us adore. I think that global warming is a phenomena that is leading to many other destructive problems for the environment, and ultimately the entire planet and its people. What is scarier than thinking about the problems that have come about or are exacerbated due to global warming; such as the increase in atmospheric temperatures, are the anticipated problems that some of us have come to accept, ignore, or fear. Such a problem includes a rise in sea levels, which some predict could put most of the East coast of the US under water. What about the impact on agriculture, plants, animals? The string of problems connected to global warming is grand and continue to get more serious as each day passes.

I find this problem truly difficult because we feed its process each day, whether we drive our cars to work or whether I decide to use an aerosol hairspray can. It's hard to believe that deciding what kind of hairspray people use can have an effect on the environment. Maybe we think that the impact isn't necessarily that big...after all, it's just hairspray, right? Or is it?

I think this can lead into Stanley Fish's article. We know what happens when we drive our cars, it adds to air pollution, which can then lead to health problems for people who breathe in pollutants, and then another slew of problems that follow. We still drive our cars, but does that make us bad people and environmental "haters?"

To me, living environmentally friendly in the US doesn't mean very much. Many of us say that we are saving the environment by recycling, riding our bikes, using less water, etc. Aren't these the same activities that we were taught in elementary school? In elementary school, I for one felt more pressure to follow the environmental "rules" of "reduce, re-use, and recycle" because I feared what my peers and teacher would think of me if I did not. These basic "rules" are rearing their heads once again, yet this time we have a choice; without the fear (at least for me), whether to act or not. I follow these "rules" though, probably because they've been ingrained in me. I care about the environment and like Mr. Fish, I do what I can for the environment and "try to reach compromises when I can't."

I'll end my entry now by saying that I rarely use hairspray, but when I do...it's the non-aerosol pump kind.