Is climate change real? Is global warming something that humans are responsible for?
I keep asking myself these questions, especially when friends suggest that climate change is a scientific hoax.
Last week, I watched an amazing film by photographer James Balog called, “Chasing Ice“. This is an effort by an artist to show the world that climate change is real.
The movie won the 2012 Sundance Award for best documentary film and many other awards.
James Balog took time-elapse pictures of glaciers all over the world. Even the largest glaciers and the ice mass in Greenland are disintegrating at alarming rate.
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of that first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers. [From the preview].
ABC News presented this video in the following newscast. Bill Weir, declares, “Global warming is really happening!”
James Balog says, “When I first heard about the man-made climate change story, I sort of had a knee-jerk reflective skepticism.”
Satellite pictures reveal that 50% of the Arctic has disappeared since 1979. Just this year, 4,500,000 square miles melted away.
My teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says that mindful consumption can help us change the world for the better. When we undertake mindful consumption, we recognize our contribution to the global carbon dioxide footprint and take responsibility for our actions.
Thich Nhat Hanh also points to the reduction of the rain forests for cattle grazing land is also a contributing factor.
Here are some things that you can do to help global warming:
- Help spread the word about Chasing Ice by sharing this page with your family and friends.
- Become informed about the work of 350.org by reading Three Numbers You Should Know About Global Warming and donating to the cause.
- Begin to divest yourself of fossil fuel investments as soon as feasible.
- Co-sign the open letter to President Barak Obama.
- Reduce your meat consumption, especially the meat raised on GMO crops.
Even President Obama is convinced that man-made causes have resulted in global warming sufficient to melt the glaciers and produce severe weather changes.
My question is, “Is it true that one of the causes of global warming is our reliance on fossil fuels?”
What is your answer?
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