Community Engagement

Hello Green Beans,

Several news feeds arrive in my email inbox every day and one is called 1440 Daily Digest. It is not specific to the environment. On July 17, 2023, I was saddened to see that the following were some of their items:

• Alaskans spent the weekend experiencing an uptick in seismic activity, with a series of volcanic eruptions from the remote Shishaldin Volcano Friday followed by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake late Saturday morning off the southwestern coast, which briefly triggered a tsunami warning.
• Country-wide heat wave leaves 100 million Americans under heat advisories over the weekend, stretching from Oregon to Florida (More) | Phoenix reached 118 degrees Saturday, on pace to break the record this week of consecutive days above 110 degrees.
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was briefly hospitalized for dehydration amid a heat wave.
• Four people died, three others missing, after flash floods hit the Philadelphia area.
• At least 31 people were killed as heavy rains triggered landslides and flooding in South Korea.

The tragic reality is that there is such an increase in these news reports. We certainly had our own wildfires in NS, and then BC and Yellowknife were battling theirs. California is enduring Hurricane Hilary. We survived Fiona and we know there will be more to come.

I will be very honest – it does make me feel a tad bit better knowing that I am doing my best to reduce my carbon footprint, but it has also motivated me to do much more. Again, I am more than aware that I alone can’t change the trajectory we’re on, however, I take the following quote quite seriously:

"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."
Robert Swan

And although we are lucky to have these people on our side, we simply can’t wait for the ‘others’ to do all the work; we need to step up and do more than just recycling.Please send me a friend request on Facebook at Going Green at 70. Let’s start a Climate Group and share ideas. Over the next two weeks, I ask that you commit to making some changes:

• Like the song says ‘Turn out the Lights’. Don’t light rooms you’re not in and in broad daylight, maybe you don’t even need lights.
• Unplug! Commit to unplugging a lamp you never light, your toaster, your kettle, and your charger when it isn’t charging which creates phantom energy. It will only save you a few cents a year, but it would have an impact if we all did it. I have very little plugged in and I now have a reminder to turn on my outdoor light in the evening and off in the morning.
• Lighten up on your water usage. One easy way is to turn the water on when you need to rinse your teeth; no need to watch the water run down the drain while you are brushing.

Here are just three small initiatives.

Good luck, I know you can do it

Until next time – stay green.