So, okay, leaving your pop cans and candy wrappers lying around forests and stuff was a bad thing. We learned that. What we didn't learn about was the potential for human activities to wreak havoc on longterm weather patterns, putting human lives and the lives of numerous other earth species in jeopardy. And most of us still live our lives as though we don't know that's happening. It's a terrifying thing that we don't want to focus on and/or feel helpless to change. I feel the same. What can I do? I put my name to environmental petitions, I recycle, don't own my own car, I replaced my old lightbulbs with supposedly more environmentally friendly ones when that idea became all the rage (it may not have been such a smart one after all because it turns out Canada's "mercury-waste facilities are either patchwork or non-existent" but that's another story).
But when it comes down to it, what can I do that will make a real difference? I don't have great power or influence. Probably not even medium power or influence. And I'm certainly not single-handedly saving the planet by taking my Coke cans and old newspapers down to the apartment's recycling room.
So what does change things? Mass pressure on the politicians and corporations who possess real power. Right now those people don't believe enough of us are concerned about things like climate change, pipelines running through our communities and the destruction of ecosystems to warrant changing our society's toxic ways. There will be more hurricanes like Sandy and typhoons like Haiyan. Greater and greater disasters occurring with more frequency, if we don't make our voices heard on the issue of climate change now.
One way you can make your voice heard is to take part in one of the over a hundred Defend Our Climate rallies happening in communities across Canada on Saturday, November 16th. Stephen Harper and the Conservative party have had their heads buried in the {dirty oil} sands long enough. It's time for Canada to wake up to reality.
I'll be outside my local MP's office with a sign in my hand on Saturday...but it will mean so much more if you're there too!
