Killing Our Home

We humans, arguably the most intelligent and most highly evolved species to inhabit planet Earth, are destroying the only home available to us.

Consider these irrefutable facts:

Glaciers are melting.

Sea levels are rising. 

Drought is spreading and becoming more severe. 

Wildfires are decimating the western United States. 

Temperatures are higher than they have ever been. 

Hurricanes are proliferating. 

Much of the northeastern United States has been beset by massive flooding.

Air quality is poor in much of the country due to fires.

A deadly virus has killed millions of people around the world.

Rivers are running dry.

Some 16,306 species of animals and plants are facing extinction.

A broken pipeline off the coast of southern California spilled more than 144,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.

The human population continues to increase, although the rate of growth is slowing.

Planet Earth is the only home we have. There may well be other habitable planets in the solar system, but we have no way to transport billions of people there. And there is no infrastructure available to support human life.

So while the naysayers mock and laugh at people such as teenager Greta Thunberg and others who are sounding the alarm, the danger is real. We are at the tipping point right now. If we don't take collective action to reduce climate change, it will be too late for all of us.

I'm an old lady, so I won't be around when the water is gone and the air is unfit to breathe. I won't be here when there are no food crops because there is no rain for the crops, and the bees vital to crop propagation are extinct. And I don't want to live in a world where there are no elephants, no tigers, no whales in the seas.

Today is Earth Day 2022. If humans are to survive the climate crisis, it’s going to take each and every one of us working together. But individual actions alone won't be enough. We need widespread, corporate involvement. We need a fundamental shift in the way we live, including a great reduction in the use of fossil fuels.

Change begins with us. I am now more conscious of my electricity consumption, and I make a greater effort to combine trips by car. Mass transit and walking are not an option as they were when I lived in California, where I could walk or ride my bicycle to the grocery store, or take the train to work. 

Each of us can do something. What will you do to help save the planet?