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

Tree Hugging Family just sprouted back in July so we’ve now got six months under our belt so to speak. Looking back there were many popular posts that people seemed to like but being that this blog is so new there’s not much difference in post popularity.

However, there were four clear run-away post winners for 2007. Posts that people really liked in other words.

So without further ado; in reverse order, here are the top 4 most popular Tree Hugging posts of the year.

4. Seven Trees A Year: I really liked this post and am glad it hit the top four. This tells me that people love thinking about how their actions affect the trees.

3. Green Website Spotlight: Freeconomy Community: This one is a surprise. Maybe people are checking out Freeconomy though and that’s a good thing.

2. Are You Recycling?: Here’s another post that tells me that people are paying attention. How long does it take something to recycle? People are researching their options related to recycling (nice).

And the most popular post of 2007…

1. The Perfect Place for Tree Huggers to Dream: Well, to be honest, I would not have thought this one would make the top viewed post. Either people really like trees, sleeping, or both. Hmmm. Which do you think?

I hope everyone plans to stick around for 2008. The last six months have been great and this is the year we can all work together to make positive choices for the earth and our families. Next up, I’ll be back with my 2008 resolutions — yup I finally narrowed them down.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Simple, easy, and hard to argue against.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Now, obviously dressing in earth friendly clothing is only one small step. But if your tee, or in this case your little one’s outfit gets someone thinking than that’s a good deal. Plus how cute are baby tree huggers?

All of these baby items are organic and ultra cool so if your family has some tiny tree huggers (or are expecting some) I’d hit this shop. These outfits would also make great baby shower gifts.

Organic Think Green Onezie on sweet pea

Organic Cotton Treehugger Onezie on forest or sky blue

Organic Cotton Love Your Mama Baby Onezie

Don’t know a little — no worries. Soul Flower has clothing for the older of us and also neat gifts.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family