[Matt]

Many of you are looking at a rather simple picture of global "warming" as a process in which it gets hot outside. The big picture of global warming is much more complicated than that. The warming process is just the beginning. The warming melts ice sheets, the water from those ice sheets melts into the oceans, ocean currents are changed and the weather globally becomes more extreme and erratic. We're already seeing the early signs of the extremes. More storms during the "wrong" times of the year. The storms are consistently more fierce and more deadly than we've seen in a lifetime.

While it's true that cars aren't the biggest contributor, it's the biggest of our truly changeable and controllable contributors. People breathing is by the biggest contributor. The global population has exploded over the past 200 years to the point where 1/5 of all humans who have ever lived is alive right now. That's ridiculous and reckless.

There are very simple things you can do to do your part without drastically changing your lifestyle.

1. Use a condom. We don't need more people.

2. Don't drink bottled water. And I'm not saying that because of landfill waste or recycling. Don't drink bottled water because the production of that bottle of water is incredibly inefficient. It takes 3x the amount of water in that bottle just to make the bottle itself. The process used to make that one bottle takes more electricity than your home uses in one day. And it does take twice that to recycle that one bottle.

3. Conserve electricity use in your home. Use flourescent light bulbs. Don't leave electronics on when not using them. Did you know just the standby button on your dvd player can cost you over $100/year?

4. Take reusable bags with you to the grocery store. Both plastic bags and paper bags are horrible for the environment. Sure, paper breaks down more easily than plastic. But, not in a landfill. In most landfills, plastic bags are segregated from the rest of the trash. plastic bags take 1/10 the space to store. Paper bags take 100x longer than normal to break down when covered with the rest of the trash, unexposed to air and sun. Paper bags take more energy to recycle than plastic. However, there are fewer recycling centers for plastic bags than paper bags. So, just use neither. Buy a couple $1 canvas bags. They look better, they hold more and they insulate cold goods better.

5. Recycle. Again, easy. Most cities offer recycling pickup. If you can't recycle, reuse. If you can't do either, watch what you buy. See if the packaging is already made from recyclable material. Good for you if it is.

6. Speaking of packaging, buy food items in bulk! Buying one huge plastic bag of a dried food item and storing smaller portions in reusable packages (tupperware) produces much less waste and is, in most cases, cheaper.

None of these are hard things to do! None of them change your lifestyle! They just make you think for a bit before you make your next decision. And I know we can all stand to do that.