“Global warming is, I believe, a significantly greater threat to us, to our economies and to our way of life than any or all of recent issues that have headed national agendas: the credit crunch, global terrorism, the price of oil, healthcare, ageing populations etc. World leaders need to attack this threat head-on. This response will need to be as aggressive, and as global, as the world’s response to fascism and Nazism in the mid-twentieth century. And I think the best way to approach this problem is as though a war is being fought, a war whose outcome will determine the fate of all of us.

“Our response so far, such as it is, has been predicated on a ‘best case’ scenario - but any war that has a chance of being won is planned on a ‘worst case’ and it is the ‘worst case’ that I believe can be witnessed here in the Arctic. From what I have seen over the past week it is not a question of ‘whether’ but simply ‘when’ the Arctic will be free of summer sea ice. Those leaders who ignore the warming signs and fail to act with the vision, tenacity and determination that I believe is necessary imperil not only future generations, but the current one as well.”

Follow Lewis’ journey here.

But, the thought that occurred to me last week, as I was kayaking solo around the waters of South Carolina and blissing out on the sounds of the water and the sight of diving birds and jumping fish, is that it is so easy to get wrapped up in ‘the fight.’

As summer comes to a close, consider if you’ve really enjoyed it as much as you possibly could?  If not, find your first free moment, run outside, hug a tree, listen to a bird, or take off your shoes and splash around in a creek.  We deserve to enjoy.

As Matthew McDermott of Treehugger says, “Climate change is happening more quickly than we thought in the Arctic and the frozen soils in the region contain a lot more stored carbon than the models used so far. Unless we get a handle on this now (yesterday would’ve been even better) global warming could very well overtake our efforts to slow it. That’s not to say that we should throw in the towel (as no doubt some people will think) but rather is another sign that we have to redouble our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a global level.”

Get the full story here.

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Tweet you later,
Jill

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