I type this lying next to my sound asleep wife that is carrying our 19 week baby, a fully developed soul ready to be brought into this sometimes challenging and cruel world, but also a world of great joy and beauty.  We are the bridge and the torch is in our hands when it comes to saving the earth and curtailing higher mean temperatures, depleted arctic rock, rising sea levels and abnormal weather patterns.  The choices we make, the advocacy we harness and the communication we spread are key in letting know that when this next generation is presented with what could be the biggest problem to ever face man kind that at least we got the ball rolling.  But do we have the ball rolling or are we talking and going in circles and not really appreciating the great magnitude of what is actually happening and even more so, the speed at which the change is occurring?  I am for the most part a very optimistic person and I tend to also consider myself a realist but I have to tell you that the data on climate change, the "anomalies" that tend to not become "anomalies" anymore when we see severe shifts in ocean currents, movement of glaciers and not only escalated heat in the biosphere, but also underground.

 When this pattern continues to snowball, what do we tell our kids and grandchildren when they ask, "What were you thinking?" or "Why could you let this happen?".  Seems innocent and simple enough.  After all we are their predecessors and humankind puts the largest toll on the planet.  We cannot use the excuse that we had good intentions, were keenly aware that our actions were degrading mother earth but that policy change in government was too tied up in a love fest with the enemies and regimes that contribute to the climate crisis.  I hope we can empower ourselves and in turn empower our young to make this the work of their time and not take it for anything less then it is-the pressing issue that will determine how long human species remains on this earth and the quality of life in the meantime on the whole human race.

This torch that we need to pass and hold on to as well will only stay lit if we really get young people sold on the idea of the power of politics and the power to influence people.  A thousand people can stand at the White House lawn and the President will not even blink an eye as he peers through the window and later prepares to sign a bill that just satisfies the minimum miles per gallon requirement for new vehicles will still staying friends with the people at Mobil-Exxon and Conoco Phillips, that line his pocket and fuel indirectly a big machine we call congress, senate, and the house.

So, to curtail this vicious and seemingly hopeless wave one good idea came out of the 11th hour that I would love to see a leader present and have the audacity to push-cut income tax and raise tax on carbon emissions.  This is a small step that could make people who otherwise do not care (so to speak) whether or not the world burns into a fiery mass to at least think about what they drive, their fuel consumption habits and make alternative plans.  They do this because of money and that is not ideal, but certainly a start.  The one good thing that these higher gas prices have done is brought more and more SUVs, large trucks and other inefficient guzzlers off the road.  For all I car, let the oil price rise and this will force companies to innovate and research, develop, market and dissiminate new technologies that are hopefully cleaner, cheaper and will one day show those that did not get the climate crisis and did not realize the impacts-that they were and are real.

Life after big oil and coal can be sweet, enterprising and fit nicely into the capitalistic society we are forced to live in.  And I am confident that my children will be pioneers in this great ambitious quest.

Until next time, for the environment,

Casey