Talk is cheap, but very effective

This afternoon my husband and I were having lunch at an outdoor cafe, when I started tuning into the conversation next to us. A couple and their teenage daughter were chatting about global warming and the need for government action, and it struck me that while their conversation wasn't particularly noteworthy, what was remarkable was that it was happening at all. A year ago the public discourse was still full of language about the "theory" of global warming and conjecture about whether maybe the rising temperatures were simply the fault of too many gas-emitting sheep. Today global warming (or climate change, depending on the terminology you use and the context) has become an accepted and recognized phenomenon even by certain very high-ranking (and formerly denialist) U.S. politicians. And that's a huge step forward in this country, where one of the biggest agents of change is public discourse itself. It's that curious phenomenon of, "everyone's talking about it, so it must be real", which is the precursor to everyone doing something about the problem. It's no longer just the "tree-huggers" who are talking about global warming, but moms and dads and kids chatting over lunch.

So this is my "tip of the day" for a cheap and easy way to spread the word about global warming: just talk about it. When you hear your neighbor kvetching about the heat, casually remind him that indeed, the temperatures are unseasonably warm because of global warming, which is why you're trying to reduce your carbon footprint...then point him to this blog for more great ideas about doing the same :-) And when your dog-owning friends complain about the ticks invading their pets even in the winter, tell them the ticks never die in New England any more, not with spring-like December days. It's all part of getting people to connect the dots about global warming and think about the not-so-pleasant side effects of heating up our planet. And once the public discourse centers on what's bad about global warming, then we'll all start talking about what we're going to do to mitigate the problem.

And on the topic of global warming vs. climate, visit The Nature Conservancy's climate change site for an explanation: http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/. And keep talking about it!