Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day today in Boulder is beautiful! In fact, it has been a great weekend outside... yesterday, we rode our bikes all the way to the farmer's market (on the other side of town, a 20min bike ride), and the path took us through a neighborhood, then along a trail through open space filled with geese, and finally along the Boulder Creek Trail, which was amazing. The creek is full of meltwater from up in the Rockies, so there are little rapids and tons of plants and critters. Once there, we got two yummy falafel and hummus gyros for lunch, and we picked up some local made gnocchi and garlic and herb goat cheese spread that is so so good. I love, love, love Boulder.

Being as I am an atmospheric and oceanic scientist graduate student, I thought I'd take today's post to really try to emphasize that our planet is really, truly, for sure changing due to man's influence, and most of these changes are not good. It is depressing, and not something fun to think about at all, but I think it's important to realize that there is a lot that each of us can do to help. I know that the news stations often discuss climate change, and that in order to show a "balanced view," they interview a scientist who believes that global warming is happening and greatly impacted by mankind's activities, and they have that scientist debate another scientist who disagrees with that view. However, 99.9% of climate scientists do believe that the activities of humans over the course of the past 200 years have impacted the climate in a negative way. That is, these "balanced debates" aren't really balanced, as there is a clear consensus in the scientific community about this issue. It is no longer a question at all. I have heard lectures by countless climate experts, and I have read many journal articles and attended many classes, all of which discuss irrefutable evidence that we will have HUGE problems in future generations, unless major changes are made. The moral of the story: global warming is real, mankind has influenced this in a big way, and we can all do things to help.

If you want to read some great articles about the state of our knowledge today, as well as simple things each of us can do, and some great photos of how global climate change is already impacting the world today, here are some great links:

• Time article: 51 things you can do http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment
• Time article: What we know today http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176980,00.html
• (note, the above link is to a long article, but it is very well written, and I think it really covers the information I have heard in lectures and papers by experts in the field).
• Time slideshow: http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/global_warming/
• Earth Day Network: http://www.earthday.net/
• US Gov't Earth Day Website: http://earthday.gov/athome.htm

Now, I'm sorry if this whole post sounded super hippy or liberal or anything, but I really find this cause to be very important. Also, it's Earth Day, and it is MY blog!!

A lot of the suggestions in the links above are very do-able, and not too expensive or anything. For example, buying local produce... all of the farmer's markets I have been to have not been dirty or hippy or anything like that. Rather, there are tons of families with their kiddos, getting to sample tons of fresh produce and play in nearby parks, all while supporting local farmers and getting foods that taste better than anything you can get at the grocery store. Also, you can get super hot deals on the energy efficient light bulbs at costco, and I bet at sam's club as well. They last years longer, save money in the long term, and the appearance of the light isn't substantially different than normal light bulbs. One last easy idea is to see if your local energy company gives customers the option of purchasing some of their energy from wind power, or other more environmentally friendly sources. I know that xcel energy here in Colorado allows us to buy some or all of our electricity from wind farms.

I hope that if you aren't already at least giving some of these ideas a shot, that you might consider it. Take a trip to a local farmer's market one Saturday or Sunday morning, or buy one compact flourescent light bulb, and maybe you'll like it! If not, at least you've given it a try.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!