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Even the “skeptics” can’t deny it any more, climate change is real, it’s happening and it’s now. Grab the kids in your life, sit down and watch this 2 minute clip from our friends at NBC. Ask your kids about the changes they see and feel in your own backyard, your neighborhood, your town and your state.
Next step, talking about what we can do about it at home, in our communities and with our government.
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I live 24 miles from mid-town Manhattan as the crow flies, the center of the 
world, where the action never stops, and the lights never dim. Yet in my corner of NJ, where most people live in single family homes with front and back yards, mature trees, several cars in the driveway and multiple TV’s in the house, time has stopped for thousands, and the lights have not only dimmed, but they are out! For many, power has been off for more than 4 days, food in refrigerators and freezers has spoiled, schools have been closed now for 3 days, and Halloween was even cancelled!
So, take a moment around your dinner table tonight and discuss the “precariousness of our lives” with the kids in your life. While we ponder in this country if climate change is real, if Kim Kardashian ever meant to stay married, and if David Arquette should have been booted off Dancing with the Stars should we not also consider who will fix our aging infrastructure and ensure that the lights and power stay on? I know it migh seem kind of mundane but if we don’t start making a “fuss” who will? We need to tell our government officals that we do expect them to “put people to work” and that a good idea might be getting people to rebuilding our out of date infrastructure so we can withstand and mitigate the damages of these “freak” storms that “from where I sit” seem to be happening with increasing regularity and intensity. Even Fox news, which isn’t always the most supportive or forthcoming with climate change facts, ran a segment on November 1st that discusses a study linking extreme weather to climate change.
In a Bergen County, New Jersey newspaper the Governor of NJ is quoted as follows: “ The last time I asked someone at the utilities about this, they 
estimated the costs of putting all the wires underground at about $1 million a mile. Now, here’s what I want to ask the citizens of New Jersey – do you want to pay for that?” My answer Governor, confirm your $$ with the utilities, and probably yes!
Also Governor Christie, while you are at it, can you ask some of the many people who work for you to figure out how much my municipal, school, county and state taxes go up with each passing storm and ensuing clean up? As well, my home insurance continues to mount as damage costs of storm clean ups from around the country are passed on to me. I would like to compare these costs to more permanent and secure fixes and one option in the tool box might be the buried electrical wires that you mention. We need to start somewhere planning for a future that includes a changing climate and more extreme weather and rather than just putting on Band-Aids, why not begin with buried cables?
This is my rant…so please excuse me while I lament our country’s failing bridges, roadways, electrical grids, water treatment and power plants, as well as the fact that more Americans are out of work then at any time since the great depression. I’sn’t it time to be bold and create our own American “Marshall” plan? Shouldn’t we be “connecting the dots” and not burying our heads in the sand and begin doing something like burying power cables instead?
I will be in DC this weekend, where I have drawn my line in the sand on an infrastructure project that doesn’t put very many people to work, and that perpetuates our reliance and addiction to fossil fuels. Check out the Tar Sands Action site for more information and stay tuned next week for my overview of the event. Look for “live tweets” on November 6th as well!
Yours,
Climate Mama
Credit: The Climate Reality Project/You Tube
Climate change is not your fault — for the car you drive, the lights you turn on, the food you eat. But the climate crisis is our problem. And real solutions, systemic solutions, innovative solutions, can only come when we address it together. Without doubt. Without delay.
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The Facts: Humans are causing Global Warming. This is REALITY and proven FACT. We need to teach and prepare our kids, which is what Nickelodeon and the Department of Education were doing recently at a “Reading Event.” Yet why does Fox News continue to present global warming as an “unproven” science..consistently sticking to the script that there are “two sides” in a debate. There are NOT 2 sides, 98% of all scientists working on climate change state that humans are causing global warming..It’s time to stand up and demand REALITY, even Sponge Bob is demanding the truth! Every major National Academy of Science in the world is telling us that Global Warming is human caused, and we need to take action NOW to advert the worst consequences of a changing climate.
What’s up with Fox News? Stand up for Sponge Bob and share this story with the kids in your life – brought to light for us by MediaMatters.org. Help your kids understand how the media can “manipulate” the facts to sow seeds of doubt, putting our and our children’s future in jeopardy.
Looking for a few “out of the box” fun (yet subconsciously educational) things for your kids to do this summer? We are thinking of those middle and high school teens that want to spend most of the day sleeping and then way too much time on the computer. Give them something thought provoking to think about when they are surfing the web. For great suggestions and ideas of on-line climate games, make sure to check out our earlier post.
One “of the moment” US real life environmental heroes has his story unfolding “as we speak.” For a civics lesson on peaceful protests, think Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and have the kids in your life check out Tim DeChristopher.
Our ClimateMama, Harriet Shugarman had the opportunity to meet and hear from Tim at the Netroots Conference earlier this year. According to Harriet: “Tim is incredibly articulate, forthright, and down-to-earth. He could be your friend, neighbor, son, or brother. Listening to him tell his personal story is so compelling. He matter of factly tells how he was in the right place, at the right time, followed his instincts and showed us how one person can make a difference.”
Time to get those teenage brain synapses connecting. Have the kids in your life play the Climate Hot Spot Scavenger Game hosted by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Let your kids give you the evidence that shows all of us that our climate is changing NOW.
You are a mother, a father, a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt, a teacher or a child at heart. When you hear the Native American saying, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”, it makes you stop for a moment and think. You love nature, travel, adventure and believing in a world that is special and unique. Climate change and global warming are words that alarm you, that often seem too big to get your arms around. You care about what’s happening to the world and notice small changes in your own life that seem to point in the direction of a threatened environment. But you wonder if these changes are real, and if they are you can’t imagine what you can do to help change what is happening.
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Climate Change so often seems too big to get our hands around. We wonder where we can start and how we can actually make a difference. Each one of us has a different path that we will follow. Some of us cut a wider swath than others, but each of us has a role to play. We would like to introduce you to some amazing individuals, Climate Mamas and Papas who are making a difference, who are, through their daily lives, affecting the lives of all of us. They inspire us, empower us, and challenge us to reach for the stars, to strive to do the best we can to help change the crash course we are currently on with our environment. Lets meet some of these amazing people and find out what inspires them. Meet our featured Climate Mama, Janae Shields, today!
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Earth Day New York promotes environmental awareness and solutions, all year long, through partnerships with schools, community organizations, businesses, and government entities; educating public and private policymakers through conferences and publications; and involving the general public in annual Earth Day events.
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