A Climate in Crises!

July 7th, 2007 was Live Earth day. A 26 hour, 10 city, 7 continent concert to raise awareness for the strugles that our earth and future are facing.

So let's start with the concerts. I actually really enjoyed all the concerts. I'm writing about this 5 days late because it took that long to watch all the concerts. I found them entertaining. I liked seeing bands I had never heard of from other countries. I liked seeing my favorites.

Bon Jovi and Metallica rocked New York and London. Of course, Bon Jovi performed from Giants stadium in Jersey. They are the original Jersey boys and never hesitate to be the first ones signed up for charity events like these. And Metallica just rocks, period.

Obviously, many more groups and individuals performed but once Bon Jovi appears on screen I sort of forget anything else thats going on. They just have that way about them.

There were some great speakers too. Cameron Diaz said some nice things, Al Gore was there too, Leonardo DiCaprio spoke his mind from London, again, the list go on.

But the day was about more than entertainment. A lesson needed to be learned, a slap in our faces made. Okay, so most of us realize that if we turn off lights when we leave a room, we save energy. But obviously, the vast majority of the public don't do this, or they wouldn't have mentioned it. There is a huge difference being between knowing and doing.

The little things are what matters. A small change here or there equals a big change for everyone. And it's easy to do the small things. Some of the suggestions they made I thought were excellent, and simple things that most of us don't think about.

We all know about turning lights off, but how many us actually turn off the power bars our electronics are plugged into? You probably just press the power button on that remote and that's it, but hydro still pours into that power bar non-stop. Shut it down! And energy efficient bulbs are just a great idea all around and so much cheaper!

I was really bad for this, I admit. But no more. How many of us leave our small appliances and charges plugged in all the time? Why plug it in when not using it. If you are one of those people that absolutely needs to set the coffee maker timer every night then fine, but why do we need to keep a toaster or a blender plugged in? And why not consider appliances that are energy efficient over those that aren't. Until I was reminded about it, I never thought about unplugging my massage chair when I was just sitting in it. I only plug it in now when I'm actually using it for a massage.

Walking, biking, public transport, carpool. Not everyone can do this, not all the time. We need vehicles in this day and age. But we can all try to get a little more exercise. Why drive to the corner store, walk (unless you're in the country and the corner store is 8 kms away).

In the age of IPOD galore, why do we still need to purchase cd's? Do you really need to buy a song online and then pay for it again when you buy the cd? Now a days, extra hardrive space is cheap, online music is much cheaper than cd's, and online buying means no trucks delivering hard plastic discs. No trucks, no pollution, no plastic dics, no landfill waste when the group splits up and everyone throws them away. Let's reduce this bit. Besides, it's so much easier to just hit the delete button when an artist pisses you off then to get up and walk to the garbage to throw the disc away. And if you are still worried about the cost of buying music online, then I'm sure you'll manage to find it free.

Reusable containers. That's all I'm going to say about that, it's a no brainer!

Plant a tree. Again, no brainer, nuff said!

Rechargeable batteries, cheaper, lasts longer, and reduces waste.

Buying food locally. Why do we drive to the grocery store to buy the produce that was shipped that morning from other countries while that same morning, the local producers shipped they product out to export countries? What's the point? Buy local whenever possible, keep the majority of our food in our country.

And the list goes on, and on. Any of us doing just one of these things will make a difference and not one of these things were hinder our day to day lives. If you want more ideas on what you can do, or to pledge to the world that you will make a change, then visit http://www.liveearth.org/ to learn more.

You can even take a quiz to find out how efficient you are, how much carbon dioxide you as an individual contribute to our pollution annually, and what you can do to improve your score. The scores range from 100-900 and the lower the score, the better. I took the quiz. The numbers are a little off for me because they didn't have a smart car as an option and the next closest ehicle isn't half as efficient as my car, but nonetheless, my score was 247 and I contribute 9 tons of carbon dioxide to our environment every year. With the average scores so far being around the mid 500's you gotta think, not bad, but it could be better. I'm making some changes for myself, and I think it's time to plant a tree.

Where do you stand?