In some parts of the country, I hear that it’s not blisteringly hot. That is not true on most of the East Coast where, as you know, people have been dealing with record temperatures and resulting power outages. So, how’s that heat wave treating you?
Where I live, we’re known for our beautiful autumn seasons. The summers are hot and humid, but sometime in October things cool down and the leaves turn spectacular colors. Yesterday, I was driving home from work, and I noticed that on part of my drive, autumn had arrived already. The leaves had fallen off the trees onto the street. And they had been brown and dead when they fell. There was no robust color spectacle to enjoy. Later, at dinner, several other people brought up the fact that they were seeing falling leaves all over the city already. Maybe we will have a less beautiful autumn than usual here. Maybe there won’t be any leaves left by October to fall! Either way, it’s hot this summer.
And, like most people, I believe that this is not just an anomaly. Climate change is starting to catch up with us. Here’s the worst part though. The result of climate change is making most of us (including me) do things that make climate change … worse.
I’m a person who makes conscious choices about my actions and their impact on the environment. But all week last week I got into my car to drive five blocks to the gym because it was simply too hot to walk. Am I embarrassed to admit that? Yes. But I’m not perfect. Nobody is. However, do the math. Multiply that five blocks out by all of the people doing it. It’s a lot.
As I walk through my neighborhood, people are trying desperately to preserve their lawns by constantly running sprinklers. The truth is, I can understand why. The feel of laying on grass and the beauty of flowers is part of the joy of summer. I don’t want to give it up either. But the water depletion and the energy to run those sprinklers constantly, that’s adding to the problem.
Of course, we’ve all heard the climate change skeptics talk about how this has nothing to do with behavioral changes. And despite all of the science to the contrary, maybe that’s true. After all, none of us are omnipotent. Maybe this really is the natural evolution of the planet (despite all of the science to the contrary). But, realistically, at this point, it doesn’t matter what caused climate change. It matters what we do now. As much as it breaks my heart, maybe people in my neighborhood need to learn to find something else to love about summer other than perennials. And maybe we need to think about what we can do to minimize the damage moving forward, one of our specialties at Postconsumers.com.
I’m not perfect. Nobody is. But if you’re in the heat wave zone, let’s all take a pledge to make sure that we think about how the decisions we’re making to deal with the heat could, ultimately, make the heat worse five years from now.
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Photo via Flickr Creative Commons: egenerica
