NEWS

Global warming Your Turn: Everybody must take responsibility to enact changes

04/17/2007

By James Brinker Richfield

Saint Cloud Times

We are faced today with the reality of global warming. Many have taken heed about this stern message from Mother Nature. Many have not. All residents of Earth need to take accountability to save our planet from the rapid destruction we have caused.

By some estimates, the United States uses up to two-thirds of the world's natural resources, and its citizens are wasteful people. There are many things all of us can do to remedy these problems.

First, we have to claim our responsibility and not rely on someone else to fix the problem. We have to make some noise now.

We can't gamble that the government will take care of this issue. We need to do it. We need to demand that there is a quicker solution to many things from alternative fuel sources to stiff penalties for people who do not recycle to commercial polluters violating the law.

How you can help

On an individual level, we throw away enough aluminum cans to our landfills each year to build the entire commercial airline fleet four times a year. At almost 80 cents a pound at a recycling shop, that is a lot of money we are throwing away.

It could be a source of fundraising, added to our Social Security bank or given to programs we are taking care of with our taxes.

We need to find safe alternatives to the fertilizers everyone uses, the pesticides we spray, the excessive packaging we use. Boycott the products that don't make an effort to change to environmentally conscious ingredients.

Excessive packaging? Enough said.

It is hardly an effort to recycle at home if you get into the habit of doing it. Paper, glass, cardboard and plastic can be recycled. We need to take more items to recycling centers instead of throwing them out. Reuse plastic bags whenever you can.

Pick up trash when you are out and about, especially the trash along water resources.

Plant a few trees every year.

Nature is changing

Most of all, remind others to do the same! The ice caps are getting smaller and the water is rising!

In our state, the winters are shorter, the storms are more destructive and the sun in more dangerous than ever. I remember back in the 1960s, sunblock was unheard of. Now it is a necessity of everyday outdoor life.

It shouldn't be that way.

This is the opinion of Richfield resident James Brinker.