Friday, June 22, 2007

I've Been Feelin' GREEN Lately...

It's weird how people can complete change their beliefs and behaviors, even in something that seems unnecessary or mundane. And the change is absolute and definite. I'm being a little obscure, so I'll give you an example. When I turned 16 and got my driver's license, I wore my seatbelt. Not too remarkable except that I NEVER wore a seatbelt before in my life; in fact, I didn't know ANYBODY who regularly wore their seatbelt. But I did, and eventually so did my parents, and friends, and their friends, etc, and now, 14 years later, EVERYBODY I know wears a seatbelt. That's the kinda change I'm talking about. Now of course there's been state laws that are much more strict on seatbelt violators, but that wasn't the reason WE changed. It's really just an issue of safety and something we NEEDED to do. Thats an interesting phenomenon. I noticed it happening but never really paid much attention to it, until now, in retrospect. Interestingly enough, I see another change happening right now.


I don't want to get off on some crazy environmental rant (a la JHO's politico...), but I just want to know if anybody else sees this coming. As the title states, I've been feeling GREEN lately. I've been watching a lot of shows on television lately and read many articles on the internet about being GREEN, or eco-friendly. Basically GREEN is about saving energy and thus our planet. Dare I say Al Gore started the revolution with his documentary about the eminent danger of global warming An Inconvenient Truth, which by the way, you MUST see - fantastically done and incredibly informative to say the least. Then the Discovery Channel started airing shows that showed the importance of thinking GREEN and trying to reduce our dependence on rapidly decreasing supplies of foreign petroleum. Even This Old House renovated a 5-star (highest rating) GREEN house on it's last project in Texas. Even WalMart has started a GREEN initiative by promoting low-energy fluorescent light bulbs which use significantly less power than traditional incandescent bulbs. Just imagine the energy that could be saved if every WalMart customer would replace just one bulb with an energy-efficient fluorescent. I've already replace a few bulbs in my apartment.


I could go on and on, but its not necessary. I feel a revolution coming and a change in thinking. If we want to sustain this planet (at least until the sun burns out), we need to start now. Its not necessary to change everything we do, but every little thing can help out.


I found the video below and thought this guy demonstrates a very good point. And he does it in such a way that everyone can understand it. (He even includes a logic chart so us linearly-thinking nerds can understand.) I know the video is a little long, almost 10 minutes, but give it a chance.



Interesting Argument About Global Warming - Watch more free videos


Let me know what you think. Am I crazy or a hypocrite jumping on the eco-green-bandwagon? Maybe I'm just full of shit, but I can sense a change coming.

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