A 200). The poor, members of minority groups with a genetic predisposition to the condition, and the very old are particular vulnerable to extremities of temperature (Bazilchuk 2006: 545) Temperature extremes have changed the way people live their lives, whether it is from famine, the increased rate of deaths from the increase of extremes of hot and cold, illnesses, or even simply the loss of traditional ways of life -- from the Arctic Inuit Eskimos to the Vermont maple syrup farmers who can no longer sustain their trees in warmer temperatures.
It is clear that unless we open our eyes as a nation and as a world, global warming's effects can be catastrophic. Of course it is heartening that there been the greater willingness of people in recent years, partially for self-serving reasons and partially out of the goodness of their hearts, to take proactive actions to reduce their carbon footprint, whether by fashionably driving a Prius, riding a bike, or walking -- a behavior reinforced by the escalating price of gas. So has carrying a shopping bag to the supermarket. But going green and dropping bottles in the recycling bin is enough to reverse such catastrophic changes. The developing world is consuming more oil, eating more meat that releases methane into the atmosphere, and leaving a larger global footprint. Unless nations work together to reduce the toll to the environment, one person, even one nation is not enough.
More knowledge and research is needed to truly calculate how much of an impact a particular product may have upon the environment. In England, for example, a recent attempt to label the carbon footprint...
And the disparity persists even when you factor in the jet fuel burned to bring the vegetables to
Britain. One study estimated that a consumer boycott of air-freighted African produce would reduce Britain's total emissions by less than 0.1%" (Green & Capell 2008, p.3).
Of course we should do all we can to reduce global warming on an individual level. But an individual cannot create incentives for his or her neighbors to change their lifestyles, nor can individuals finance investment in
wind and
solar energy, much less pressure the developing world to live in a more sustainable fashion. It also requires more research, not as to whether global warming exists, but the best ways to reduce our impact on the planet. To combat global warming requires a total lifestyle change for the world -- and a change in our nation's legislatures, too.
Works Cited
Bazilchuk, Nancy (1 Sept 2006). "Lethal Change in the Weather: Temperature Extremes and Premature Mortality." Environmental Health Perspectives. 114. 9: pp. A545- A545.
Driven to Extremes:
Health Effects of
Climate Change." (Apr., 2007). Environmental Health Perspectives. 115. 4: A196-A203
Green, Heather & Kerry Capell (6 Mar 2008). "Carbon Confusion." Business Week. Retrieved 7 May 2008 at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_11/b4075052454821_page_3.htm
An Inconvenient Truth." Directed by Davis Guggenheim. With Al Gore. 2006.
