Click on the link below to listen to the last part of our interview with Anthony Coppedge.
Getting to Know Anthony Coppedge, Media Consultant – Part 3
Click on the link below to hear the third part of our interview with Anthony Coppedge.
Bill McKibben – Determined To Heal The Planet
“For the past year I have been thinking about the future. A lot. That’s because in November 2006 my wife, Kate, and I had a baby, our first. Her name is Frances, and to our delight, she is a happy child who, when I come to wake her in the morning, is often already up, grinning in her crib, batting at a wooden mobile above.
Sometimes I try to picture Frances as an adult. What will she be like? Where will she live? Who will she marry? Will she, one day, come in to greet her own child in the morning? These should be happy thoughts. But lately a shadow has hung about them. The shadow of something I read about more and more often, with more and more alarm. Just this month yet another magazine arrived in our mailbox with a cover story about global warming. The Big Thaw, announced the headline. It wasn’t that long ago that I mostly ignored climate change as some hotly debated, distant future possibility. Now scientists agree it’s already happening. Today.
Siberian permafrost is thawing five times faster than predicted and summer Arctic sea ice has already shrunk by 20 percent. What kind of world have we brought Frances into? I find myself wondering. The summer after Kate and I married, we went hiking in Montana’s Glacier National Park. “Won’t it be fun when we take our own kids backpacking?” we said. But scientists predict that by the time Frances graduates from college, Glacier Park’s remaining 27 glaciers, down from 150 a century ago, will be gone.
All of this was on my mind when I agreed to write about a man named Bill McKibben for GUIDEPOSTS. McKibben is an environmental writer- his 1989 book, The End of Nature, was the first for a general audience about global warming. He is also a lifelong Methodist and a Sunday school teacher, making him a natural for the magazine. But I wanted to meet him for another reason. Almost alone among experts on global warming, McKibben is a man of hope and faith. Faith in God and faith that people, if they choose, can dig themselves out of the environmental mess they have made. His most recent book, Deep Economy, is a hopeful world tour through communities reclaiming the small-scale, family-oriented lifestyles that McKibben sees as key to defeating the materialism and glorification of growth, which he believes fuel climate change”. – Excerpt from Guideposts Magazine.
Click on the links below read the rest of the article.
Earth Day 2008 Is Here!
More and more people are starting to care about how we are treating our planet. Some people think we are crazy to even care about something like this. This earth is the home that God gave to us. He wanted us to enjoy the beauty and wonders of His hands. He didn’t have to do this but He chose to because He loves us. We can all do something to help save the earth.
Listed below are 10 things from the EcoMall website that you can do. Step up and do your part!
“1. Plant a tree in your yard or start a garden. Plants and trees help clean the air, are visual expressions of nature’s beauty, and uplift us. Even something as simple as growing herbs in a garden can provide nourishment and delicious meals for the family.
2. Simply stop using pesticides on your lawn. Pesticides contribute to the pollution of the Earth and poison our water supply, endanger human health, and sicken wildlife. There are many effective, natural alternatives available, or even simpler, allow nature to take over the growing of your lawn, creating food for bees, birds and animals.
3. Support a local, organic farmer or CSA. Some farmers require your active participation, some deliver to urban areas. The food is nutritious and delicious, and uses less of our non-renewable resources.
4. Buy organic. Look for and ask for – organic produce wherever you buy your groceries, or even better, shop at your local health food store which carries only organic produce. Buying organic reduces pesticide exposure to the land, farmers, harvesters, and your family.
5. Spend time in nature. Taking a walk, having a picnic, or simply sitting outdoors and watching the sky, deepens our connection to the natural world , thereby motivating us to be better stewards of the Earth.
6. Buy energy-saving, compact-fluorescent light bulbs and other energy efficient products. When your next bulb goes out, replace it with a compact fluorescent light bulb. They last 10 times as long, and over their lifetime, use 1/4 the energy of an incandescent bulb, saving you $30-$40 on your electric bill. When replacing major appliances purchase energy efficient ones – look for the government’s EnergyStar label.
7. Recycle. The old adage “reduce, reuse, recycle” still works very well today. Many large waste disposal companies have an at-your-curb recycling program. Check your own local disposal company.
8. Shop Green. Be a consumer that uses your dollars to support companies and products that are better for the Earth. By simply clicking to EcoMall.com (http://www.ecomall.com) you will find a directory that features hundreds of companies that offer everything from organic and hemp clothing to non-toxic cleaners and solar energy products.
9. Join or make a donation to any organization that supports the environment. There are numerous worthy organizations that work hard for the Earth and are in need of our support. If the aforementioned tasks seem to require too much effort or time, simply write a check to those who have integrity regarding the Earth and make a meaningful contribution to the Earth’s health.
10. Create good thoughts. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” By creating the awareness that we can heal the Earth – that it is not too late, we combat the paralysis that fear often produces. So if all you can do on this Earth Day is think one good thought about the Earth, you will have contributed to a changing of the fear-based mentality”.
Click on the link below to learn more about EcoMall.
Earth Day 2008
“Earth Day falls every year on April 22, in celebration of the importance of the environment and to encourage action. It was initiated in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who started a “teach-in” to protest the government’s environmental ignorance. This eventually led to legislation including the Environmental Policy Act (1969), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1977) and fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways for people to take action on behalf of the environment, a way to make Every Day Earth Day. Recycling reduces the amount of waste in landfills, and prevents hazardous materials from leaking into our soil and water systems.
Earth day is a day to stop and think about your affect on the environment and what you can do to help protect it. One of the best ways to do that is by properly disposing of the products in your life”.
Click on the link below to read more about how you can take part on this day and every day.
