What is climate change? What’s causing it? What does it mean to me and my family? What are we doing about it? What can I do to help?

Unfortunately, we still debate the meaning of climate change. This is despite a consensus in the scientific community and the obvious extremes that we’re now experiencing across the globe. The recent disasters in the United States, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal are examples of weather events that exacerbated by our changing weather.

I recently watched “Before the Flood”, a 2016 documentary on climate change that followed Leonardo Dicaprio, United Nations Messenger of Peace, as he sought answers to many of the same questions that we have. The documentary provides a sobering account of how man has impacted climate, how the quest for profit has created powerful incentives to maintain our dependency on fossil energy, how dependent our economy is on products that are especially damaging to the environment, and how challenging it will be to reverse our impact on the environment. It, indeed, is sobering, frustrating, and overwhelming.

That said, we cannot just give up and feel hopeless. Each of us can make a difference by doing our part to minimize the dependency on resources that directly or indirectly contribute to our planet’s decline. Reducing energy needs, driving electric vehicles, hybrids (or even high MPG gas vehicles), demanding and using sustainable energy, planning trips, avoiding waste, reducing use of plastics, recycling material, reading labels, avoiding products that include palm oil, and minimizing beef consumption are some of the ways things that we can do to help.

The movie is about 1.5 hours long but is well worth your time.  Consider viewing and learning about this important matter. Importantly, share your knowledge with others and take action.

Together, we can make a difference. – Noel Morin

“Before the Flood” – the movie