We asked, “Do you think that global warming is a real threat?”

• 62% of you say “Yes, absolutely”
• 12% of you say, “No way, you tree huggers overreact”
• 24% of you say, “Most likely, at least it seems possible”
• 2% of you say, “Don’t know, don’t care”

I don’t know about co-blogger Peggy, but how the other half of Tree Hugging Family (me) voted was “Yes, absolutely.”

There’s just too much pointing at the reality of global warming for it to be a fairy tale. There is huge evidence of climate change due to greenhouse gases and other pollutants and actions, evidence that most of the scientific community agrees on, even those who don’t believe in global warming.

My take on global warming is in line with the fellow I posted about before here. This guy’s theory is the best I’ve seen about global warming – he comes to four conclusions about what could happen – and he’s right, these are the basic things that could happen.

1. We don’t believe in global warming, we do nothing to prevent it, and we’re right, it never comes.
2. We don’t believe in global warming, we do nothing to prevent it, and we’re wrong, it does come.
3. We believe in global warming, we try to prevent it, and we’re right, it does come.
4. We believe in global warming, we try to prevent it, and we’re wrong, it never comes.

So from this, you can conclude that there are two good camps to be in; camp 1 and camp 4. Hopefully the people who believe in global warming are wrong. That would rock, not because they’re wrong, but because global warming never arrives.

That leaves camp 2 and camp 3. This is where global warming prevention starts to make sense. Because you have to pick the lessor of two evils and that’s camp 3. Camp 2 is totally screwed. At least camp 3 is trying.

That’s the gist of what this fellow thinks. And it makes sense. If you believe in global warming and you’re wrong, all you lose is some time trying to prevent something that never came BUT in the meantime you will live healthier and save resources. If you don’t believe, do nothing, and you’re wrong, you’re so out of luck. You lose a lot more than time.

But, and here’s the catch, whether or not you think that global warming is real, there are other reasons to act as if it were real. The things that are assumed to cause global warming, are not healthy things to be around anyhow. If they don’t harm the earth, they certainly can still harm us, our children, and animals. Many of the things we can do to prevent global warming are things we should do no matter if we believe or not. These are things that can save us money, save our health, and save non-renewable resources.

Learn more from folks who do believe in global warming:

• The EPA’s advice about climate change prevention
• 2001 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believes there’s a major problem.
• NASA

Thanks to everyone who took the poll. I’m glad everyone is thinking about it. No matter what you believe it’s smart to believe something. The only person who has me really worried is the one who said they don’t care.

Let me know what you think.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Simple, easy, and hard to argue against.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Some businesses are obviously more eco-sensible than others. Some try to do all their company dealings in as green a way as possible while some places still love their Styrofoam.

The best companies to see are the up and comers. Maybe they didn’t used to do things green (or had no clue that they should or could) but they’re trying now. Trying is better than standing still in my opinion.

If you want to make sure that your dollars go to companies that are helping not harming the earth’s climate; now there’s an easy carry along guide to help you out.

Climate Counts rates companies and gives them scores based on the companies impact (or non-impact) on global warming. They also rate companies against major competition; say, Wendy’s to McDonald’s. They added up the scores and produced a handy little wallet chart that you can have with you when you make decisions about shopping, eating, or investing.

This information is not completely unique — various sources and research produce these kinds of company stats. But Climate Counts came up with the nice handy fold up guide. The guide lets you see with a glance that you’d be better off shopping Starbucks than Burger King.

Now keep in mind that this chart is not an all inclusive “how to be a good consumer” chart it only covers climate change; not animal testing, not ethics, or organics, etc. Still, it’s a great start.

You can get the pocket-sized chart completely free at Climate Counts scorecard page. One great thing about Climate Counts is that they’ve gathered together the emails of all of the companies and from their site you can send a nice jolly email to your favoirte do-gooder companies or let a bad CEO hear a mouthful of complaints.

Go get the free download and be a bit more secure as a consumer that you aren’t supporting global warming through the bad deeds of a lame company.

[Photo via: globalwarming awareness2007]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family