Credits:All documentaries presented below
are available in full on YouTube. We urge you to watch.
Climate change is here NOW! NOT fifty years from now. Not by 2030. We are in it NOW and have been edging towards it for the last 50 years, ignoring the warnings every step of the way. Fast forward to today, where we see the acceleration at devastating speeds.
Bright white glaciers that reflect the hot sun away from the earth, which keeps temperatures regulated, are melting. With glaciers gone, more dark land and sea are exposed which absorb more heat, making the planet hotter. This becomes a vicious cycle of global warming melting more glaciers, chunks of glacier the size of NY falling into our oceans, raising seas levels, which flood coastal cities, which causes mass migration inland. More people use more resources, including water, which is evaporating because of the increase in heat. Now what? We can't replenish bottles of water if there is no water to be had.
Even winters become more severe with polar vortexes and temperature below zero in places never seen before. Mother Earth is sick, with a high fever and chills. Either we help her fix it, or she will as she coughs up hurricanes, heat waves and wicked wildfires in every nation on her planet, wiping out entire species, including the one responsible for her illness... humankind. She has survived five mass extinctions. We have not. 5-0!
We must all become more energy efficient whether it's using solar panels to heat our homes and office buildings, wind resources to power our electrical needs, or buying electric vehicles. Yes, we must break our addiction to oil, the main culprit to our planet's congestion. Even eating less meat or reducing dairy can become enormously helpful as cows and cattle pump millions of tons of methane into our air with their burps and farts. Surely, you've already seen commercials for plant-based burgers and other items?
The planet is at its tipping point. We must all take action now, or suffer the dire consequences as a global species. In fact, we are already experiencing climate change catastrophes in every nation on earth. Every country in recent years has seen torrential rains and severe flooding including the U.S. Every nation has seen a sharp increase in horrendous heat waves (the number one killer of life), massive wildfires, unprecedented hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes and devastating droughts, all of which cause mass migration. It's not just here, it's everywhere. What will it take for humans to change?
Here, in Road & Travel's Climate Change News section, you'll find information and video's that define the crisis and offer solutions on how we can all contribute to make changes.
Russia, China & Indiabuilding $30 billion oil pipeline from
Arctic through China for growing demand of oil in China and India
VIDEO: BBC Report: China Already Most Polluted
Country in World
Video on YouTube: HOME See how how each living thing in our eco-system affects
the next & how we're changing our home
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So what can you do to help?
1. Buy electric or hybrid cars and trucks
2. Drive less, car pool, shop online (safely)
3. Change your eating habits to more fruits and vegetables. Try veggie burgers instead of meat. Did you know that cows produce more methane into the atmosphere than any other polluter on the planet? Millions of cows are bred, raised and slaughtered each year so that humans can eat meat, wear leather products, and buy leather furniture. We can change this.
4.Stop using plastic bottles, or at least reuse them. If you want to take a bottle of water with you, buy a permanent bottle and refill it from your tap. Contact your city water department to ask for a water report on your city or town. It's likely on their website, too. Cities are required to keep their tap water clean and do annual testing. But rules and regulations vary from state to state. If you're not comfortable with drinking your tap water, buy a faucet filter. I use mine every day to fill up my 2 liter bottles and I'm still kicking.
5.Recycle! Is this so hard? Have one trash can for trash, one for bottles and plastics. Almost every major city in America now has a recycling plants, trash containers for just recycling, they even pick up. Is being 'too lazy' going to be the excuse you give your kids and grandkids as the reason you left their planet and future in ruins?
6. If you own a home or have any private land, grow a garden with your own vegetables. Do it as a family, teach you kids and grandkids. It not only serves as a family activity it also provides a viable option in the event a natural disaster empties shelves at grocery markets.
So many parents and grandparents today feel they can't relate to their kids or grandkids because they're so consumed with digital devices. Well, have a digital free day; take them on a road trip to see the natural wonders in America, teach them how to plant food with seeds to build a garden, or take them for a hike along a stream; teach them the survival skills you learned as a kid (before cell phones and Ipads). They'll likely need them in the near future.
Share and teach your kids and grandkids about camping and how to build a safe campfire and how to cook over it; take them hiking, fishing, boating, swimming, canoeing, skiing, helping others, building stuff like a treehouse or a crow's nest, not buying stuff. Teach them how to shoot a bow and arrow and a sling shot, and how to survive without STUFF. They may very well need these skills soon.
As humans, and only a few hundred years ago, we survived off the land. There were no refrigerators and stoves. Humans grew their own food and hunted for their own meals. In fact, there are villages and tribes all over the planet that still live that way who are likely to survive a major world catastrophe. Humans are a tribal species. Your family and friends are your tribe. Pull from the combined experience of your tribe to teach these skills to your progeny. Pass it on.
7. Make lifestyle changes. Live life lighter. Get rid of STUFF you don't need. Stop buying STUFF you don't need and get outdoors more. Detach from your digital devices, not your family. All devices will be improved upon and upgraded, and are replaceable. Your kids are not.
8. Think about moving into a Tiny House or seeing the world in a RV. Downsize. Do you really need everything in your house? Or is it more about showing off your financial worth? Or perhaps, STUFF feeds the abyss of emptiness in one's life? Let it go.
STUFF we buy requires oil and deforestation in order to be built, shipped and stocked. Have you ever really looked at the toy department in any store? Those thousands of plastic toys will eventually end up in a land dump or the ocean. The same thing happens with other plastic and metal items we buy. It has to be dumped somewhere eventually so most of it goes into landfills which are toxic to our land and streams. So think before you buy? Do you really need another set of dishes, or more toys, or another black leather belt, or whatever? The liberation of less stuff is pretty amazing. Less is more.
Nothing is accomplished alone so all you have to do is your part to help save the freaking planet, man! It's your home, too.
See more climate change videos and documentaries on YouTube