Friday, December 22, 2006

Planting a seed


SimplyTim asked me to post the link to the projected migrating climate.

Migrating Climates is an animation which shows the migrating temperatures for the great lakes region. http://www.ucsusa.org/greatlakes/glimpactmigrating.html
Precipitation is expected to change and the temperature is expected to increase. Some areas may be wetter than "normal" and other areas will be drier. There are expected to be bigger and more massive storms and even flooding (and then increased evaporation).

This site: http://www.climatechoices.org/ne/ has similar information for the northeastern U.S. and this http://www.climatechoices.org/ca/index.html is for California.

These are the projected changes in the next 30-100 years. Some of these changes will affect my life, but they certainly will affect the lives of my children and their children. Think about the scenes of starvation we have seen in other countries. That may be us in 50 years. We have been a country of overabundance. What happens when even basic food necessities cannot be met because of climate?

Obviously, there are a lot of changes that are happening and/or projected to happen. I have read in numerous places that we really only have 10-15 years left to make a change. After that, it may be too late. I look outside the window in my Minnesota house and instead of a pile of snow I see bright green grass. It appears to be spring instead of the middle of winter. Changes are happening.

My last post was about what each of us could do - how we could move past compact florescent light bulbs. Now, how can we teach others to do the same?

We have to realize that our government is slow to act and that many people will not make changes until it is mandated. Many other people are unaware of the problem. We can teach by example, we can do as Carolyn is doing and giving random gifts. Carolyn is randomly giving out compact florescent light bulbs in an effort to help people become aware of the problem and some solutions. I hear of others who are giving gifts of an Inconvenient Truth book or DVD. I have been having my students do research and then create posters. My friend Tracey stopped by the other day and we spoke about planting the seed. Sometimes we need to state something and then say it again and again.

How are you going to plant the seed?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Emme~
I have been reading your blog for awhile. We certainly have the same convictions.
My dh is an electrician. we use these bulbs. As for sharing what we care about,what everyone should care about,I'm just trying to live out my beliefs/concerns. I think,as with most any change we wish to see in the world,we have to be it first.
You and your family are certainly doing that.
Blessings of Peace,
Kim in IN

Tim Hodgens said...

Emme,

Thanks for posting the animations of the projected trend lines for climate change.

On a similar note, you and your readers may want to take a look at a similar approach used by the Centers for Disease Control to map out the changes in obesity levels by state from 1985 through 2005.

It can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/

When you get to that page, go to the highlighted section for: PowerPoint Slide presentation format 25 slides total.

The first 3 or 4 slides are words. After that you will, or will not, be astonished at what has happened in this country over the past 21 years.

I wonder if you or someone else could use the same or a similar approach to establish trend lines by state by year for temperature changes and then that could segue into the projections for the future.

Tim

Tim Hodgens said...

Emme,

Pardon me, I wasn't implying that you might want to do that charting...I was thinking that one of your students might find it an interesting project to present data in ways which move people and perhaps motivate them.

Tim

Dancingfarmer said...

I tried to find a section that showed Georgia on line but it seems no one has done our state yet :-(
By the way--I am going to tag you. Hope you have fun with it. Check out my 12/29/06 post for the "rules"

Tim Hodgens said...

Emme,

Here's yet again another graphic that captures the impact of global warming for ALL of us.

It will particularly grab the attention of all with kitchen gardens on their mind:

http://arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm

Tim