Global warming is a reality for many people now, but sometimes with problems that are this large scale, it’s difficult to decide how to proceed in order to create change. Laurie David is one of the leading activists for global warming and in her book, she gives students (and adults) some insight on the issue, the facts, and what you can do to help.
The Solution is You is written in a very personal voice and it is clear that David feels very connected to this issue. She presents the scientific evidence supporting global warming, emphasizing what will happen if we don’t slow the release of greenhouse gases. She also recounts her own personal journey on the road to activism, including her stint as a producer for Sienfeld, membership on the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and founding of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March. In the final two chapters, she gives activists an idea of what they can do to stop global warming themselves.
Perhaps my biggest criticism of Laurie David’s book lies in these final two chapters. For a book that calls itself an “activist’s guide” most of the suggestions were things that could be found by anyone with even a passing interest in the issue. As someone who is very concerned about global warming and has done a good deal of research on the topic, perhaps I am assuming too much. Nevertheless, I would have enjoyed a bit more advice on how to deal with setbacks, how to keep from getting discouraged, how to break into the world that Laurie David’s in where you make a difference on a huge scale. The part of the book that I found most inspiring and useful turned out to be David’s account of her own activism, and I wish that she had spent a bit more time on how she handled various aspects of that.
Finally, I would have enjoyed reading a book that wasn’t just about global warming. This is a huge issue of our time that needs to be addressed, but activism in general is important and I think that in order to engage students and youth in politics, we need to appeal to whatever appeals to them first, not necessarily one issue. I therefore was a bit confused as to what sort of audience she was addressing. At first I thought she was directing her message to global warming skeptics, but if that is the case, then they probably wouldn’t have picked up an “Activist’s Guide” in the first place.
Despite my complaints, the book was easy to read and interesting. For people interested in learning more about global warming without going on the internet, this is a short seventy page introduction to the issue and what can be done. I give it 3 ½ out of 5 stars.
Written by kablock
Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You! (Speaker's Corner)
By: Laurie David
ISBN: 978-1-55591-621-3
Price: $9.95 new on Amazon.com
However, we should be worried about real problems with actual solutions and not fairy tales made up the liberal press. Let's say the world is indeed warming up, which I don't agree it is, how is me not using aerosol cans going to change the temperature of the sun? The whole concept sounds like the rantings a madman when you stop to think of it. Now I am not against protecting the environment. Should we clean the water? Of course. Should we take better care not to pollute the air or cut down entire forests? Definitely. These are things of our doing and things we can actually control and do something about. I am not taking responsibility for the heat. I refuse to take the word of Al Gore. The science simply doesn't back up the claims of global warming alarmists. In fact, many scientists say just the opposite phenomenon is happening that the Earth is actually going through a cooling phase. But whatever it is, cooling or warming, we are not in control of it. Using CFL lightbulbs are not going to have an effect on the weather, but will have an effect on those forced to buy them (never mind they are far more toxic than today's lightbulbs and will emit hazardous waste should they ever break.) The Earth goes through cycles-sometimes it is an ice age-like what killed the dinosaurs-and sometimes it is extreme heat but to think we are somehow God and can control the weather is insane. Since the beginning of time Man has tried to control the skies, who knew all it would take is deodorant and light bulbs? There is constant chatter about carbon dioxide emissions. However, we emit carbon dioxide emissions every time we breathe and there are those in the green movement who support abortion, euthanasia and other nice sounding names for the killing of human beings in order to eliminate our "carbon footprints" left just by our very breath.
There are things you don't hear in the mainstream media like those ice caps that melted in Antarctica or wherever have since grown back. It couldn't do that if it wasn't cold enough to do so. I was recently watching a program on penguins, my son loves nature shows and it seems most of their problems stemmed not from it being too warm where they were but it being colder than even they were used to. Global warming is a fraud. It is a way to scare people and make money. We are guardians of the Earth and we do have to protect its resources but I refuse to step into God's domain and take over his stead. Should the Earth go all Twilight Zone on us (aka the Midnight Sun-it is an episode in which a woman dreams she is in a world where the Earth is getting closer to the sun everyday, only the reality is the opposite it is getting colder everyday. Sound familiar? Boy, the liberal media must think Rod Serling is their god or something. Everything they believe comes straight from the Zone!) then truly the only thing you will be able to do to save yourself is get down on your knees, start repenting and ask Jesus to be your saviour because nothing else is going to work. Not your lightbulbs, not non-aerosol cans, not your fans, not your carbon tax. Nothing is going to save you because that means we are at the end and Christ is coming back. It can't be changed, it can't be delayed, it can't be modified, it is going to happen and no mere trickery of men will stop it. But in the meantime, if you want to believe the mass deceit, that is entirely your prerogative. Me, I will do what I can to truly to save the Earth, while you save what is the environmental equivalent of the tooth fairy.
So yes, activism is a wonderful thing. It leads people to do great things. It helps to change our world. But you go off advocating for a lie, follow the money, get to the truth and then use that knowledge to spread the word about what you have learned and I promise you that passion to truly inform the masses will take you places you never knew.
Being no expert on global warming, I do believe the issue with aerosol cans is one completely separate from global warming. That was a problem when CFCs were still used in aerosols, as well as things like refrigerator coolants and such. CFCs travel up to the top of the atmosphere, and have a chemical reaction with ozone (O3), turning it into regular oxygen instead. Since ozone is just kinda important in the absorption of things like UVB radiation from the sun, its depletion would mean an increase in things like skin cancer, and could potentially cause the extinction of plankton in the oceans. And, of course, the destruction of something so low in the food chain could spell disaster for things much higher up...
Of course, for all I know, aerosol cans have been condemned in global warming as well...
~C
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You're completely right about aerosols and CFCs. CFCs aren't a concern in global warming; CO2 and methane are the big players as far as I know.
Besides, one of the greatest coups in environmental history was the international and corporate cooperation the occured when we discovered the ozone hole to remove CFCs from aerosols and air conditioners. According to (1), "The rise in effective stratospheric chlorine values in the 20th century has slowed and reversed in the last decade." They're more defunct than DDT now.
(1) http://www.theozonehole.com/cfc.htm
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
My Blog: http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/kablock
My PhotoBlog: http://takingpictures.wordpress.com
It is possible to make all the points you just made without being insulting. People will be more apt to hear your message if you quit with the overheated rhetoric and start discussing the issues in a respectful manner that includes evidence.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
You truly sadden me. I'm sure that nothing I could say will change your mind. You seem very firm in your beliefs (which you have provided no evidence for). You also don't seem to be thinking critically or rationally about any of this. How is advocating using less fossil fuels (which pollute the air), using less coal (which pollutes air AND water), and protecting wild spaces a BAD thing? That's what global warming activists are working towards, and it seems that these things are all things you advocate as well. How are our goals any different?
Also, you probably should read some of the actual, unbiased reports on global warming, such as the work by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who have done years of research on this subject: http://www.ipcc.ch/
If you'd like to "follow the money," how about this: http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacc.... Or if that source isn't good, how about these: http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2328446120080523, http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/05/some_like_it_hot.html, http://www.shalomctr.org/node/889.
This statement in particular is extremely offensive: "there are those in the green movement who support abortion, euthanasia and other nice sounding names for the killing of human beings in order to eliminate our "carbon footprints" left just by our very breath." First of all, those issues are completely unrelated and I would like to see a reputable link that says that ANY credentialed member of the green movement advocates killing people. If someone advocates abortion or the right to die, it is for reasons that have NOTHING to do with global warming.
Your post is poorly informed, poorly researched, without a single shred of citation to be found, offensive, and sprinkled with fundamental Chrisitian rhetoric that only detracts from your overall message. Either we're going to talk about science, or you're going to talk about religion, but I refuse to try to talk about both as if they were the same thing.
I really don't think I'm going to change your mind. You seem far too set in repeating the same lines that global warming skeptics everywhere have spewed before. However, I hope that someone who reads your post might educate themselves before taking what you say as truth.
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
My Blog: http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/kablock
My PhotoBlog: http://takingpictures.wordpress.com
"Either we're going to talk about science, or you're going to talk about religion, but I refuse to try to talk about both as if they were the same thing."
That line may be the best, clearest example of maintaining the integrity of a post that I have ever seen on the site. Nice response.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman