Today is Blog Action Day for Climate Change and while some of you may think that has nothing to do with weddings or special events, I beg to differ. I'm not an activist or have any political stake in this subject. But I am passionate about TRYING to make a difference in our world and do believe that each one of us has a conscious and moral obligation to try to do the same, no matter how small that might be.
There is a lot of debate today about things such as recycling, chemicals that we use on a daily basis, pestasides, and even radiation. All are claimed to be just a fraction of the cause of global warming on our planet right now. Truth or myth? I'm not sure what the true causes are but I do know this; when I was a child, we used to lie for hours under a beautiful sun, on the back lawn that wasn't swarming with ants and we didn't get swathed in sun screen before we went outdoors. We never wore insect repellent. We had strong winters and hot summers and also had beautiful springs and autumns, the way nature is supposed to be.
The arctic was truly a world wonder and there was no talk of ice melting and mountain tops disappearing or even endangered species. We ate things with real sugar, real butter and real fruit and vegetables. They were all from local farms and we never heard the word organic.
While there was cancer and illness in the world, it was nowhere near what we see today. I can remember only once hearing about a hurricane and the tornadoes I heard about was on the Wizard of Oz. Drought wasn't a word that was ever used and floods were only heard of when referring to Noah and his ark.
Perhaps I grew up sheltered from the real world or my parents weren't as educated and worldly as parents are now. We watched the news every night but never do I remember such intensity in climate changes in the world as there seem to be today. A dear friend of mine argues that this is because reporters today have more freedom of speech and better financing to research and get to the stories. I believe that reporters of every generation had the ability to report storms, disasters and current events and it is evident that today's climate change IS different and is changing drastically.
In our home, we are trying so hard to do more than just recycle. We have changed light bulbs to energy efficient ones, we've stopped wasting water by turning it off when it doesn't need to run and we're trying to educate ourselves on the impact of waste that is consumed by millions of us every day in order to learn something and teach our children and grandchildren. We've stopped buying plastics and styrofoam and use glass instead. Using real plates and cloth napkins (so what...you have a few more plates to wash up after a BBQ).
The biggest thing is being conscious of trying to make changes. Say what you'd like about Al Gore and his documentary about global warming. You may or may not like the man, but in my mind, he is one of the very few that had the guts to stand up to the world and create a film that SHOULD get everyone thinking!!!
There are a lot of people out there that use the word 'green' too loosely because it is such a raging topic right now. Green houses, green cars and even green weddings. In my industry, there are wedding planners popping up all over, who are truly trying to create the ultimate 'GREEN WEDDING'. Hats off to those who do it successfully and from the heart. From my standpoint, if each one of us try a bit, it adds to the big picture.
Please do go to http://www.blogactionday.org/ and post your comments and feelings. This is a one day event and an opportunity to give everyone around the world a voice that can be heard. If nothing else, it give us all the opportunity to 'think' about the changing climate as it stands today.
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