It snowed today. Not just a few lazy flakes but a dedicated blizzard. For the second time since it officially became spring I retrieved the kids’ snow boots from the basement where I had put them under the optimistic assumption that winter was, indeed, over.
And as much as I fear climate change, as much as it keeps me awake at 3 a.m in a cold sweat wondering just what sort of apocalyptic hell my children are going to live in, the fact that it’s snowing in April doesn’t for a second make me doubt that climate change is real. Or that it’s exaggerated. And just in case I’m having second thoughts, an ice shelf in the Antarctic broke off today – a crack heard round the world. Or perhaps just heard by those of us who don’t have our fingers in our ears, yelling lalalalalalalala to drown out any voice of reason.
While I naively believed that the world had come to accept that the emperor was indeed naked – because he was fully anticipating that the planet was heating up and wanted to be good and nude so he didn’t overheat – it turns out that, as usual, I had far too much faith in people.
In 2006, according to a Gallup poll, slightly less than a third of Americans believed that climate change was exaggerated. The following year, which incidentally was the year my book The Virtuous Consumer was published, that figure rose to 33 percent. (Say it isn’t so! Surely there isn’t a link between publication of my book – which outlines what we can do to combat our contribution to climate change – and the increase in those thinking it’s exaggerated! Almost certainly a coincidence.) And here we are in spring (though it feels like winter) 2009, and the figure has risen to 41 percent.
Let’s stop and consider that for a second. We’re closing in on half the population of a country (that seemed to be coming to its senses when it voted in a president who DIDN’T believe that science was the enemy of truth) turning its back on reams of research, volumes of physical evidence, dozens of Kyoto-supporting countries and concluding that climate change is exaggerated?
Who are these people? Do they not have cable? Basic literacy skills? Are they incapable of rational thought?
And here I thought my green gig was drawing to a close. I considered my self-imposed mandate to inspire the world to tread more lightly, to live with less stuff and more joy, had reached fruition and it was time to rest on my laurels and observe as the world turned toward renewable energy sources and our greenhouse gas emissions plummeted like the Dow. I allowed myself the briefest pat on my back for a job well done and considered where to focus my efforts next, confident that I no longer needed to raise my voice in concern about the environment.
Now, dumbfounded, I learn that there is still much work to be done. Forty-one percent??
I roll up my sleeves and prepare to make some noise. Feel free to join me. We’ve got a lot of work to do…
Leslie Garrett is a national award-winning journalist, author and editor, based near Toronto, Canada. She is the author of The Virtuous Consumer: Your Essential Shopping Guide for a Better, Kinder, Healthier World and she has also written a dozen children’s books, including a biography of renowned environmentalist David Suzuki and “EarthSmart”, a book for young children on protecting the environment.
Visit: http://www.virtuousconsumer.com/
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