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You Don’t Have to Believe in Global Warming
It must be awfully stressful to be a climate change denier. If you fall into that category, I have to admire your tenacity, your grit, your firmness of conviction. Especially in light of the fact that fewer and fewer people agree with you. According to a Gallup Poll in March, 2016, 64 percent of Americans…
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Own Your Fifty
Ever since I entered my 50’s I’ve had many people say to me, “Don’t worry, fifty is the new thirty.” As if I needed comforting or something. As if it is preferable to live in a state of denial. Here’s the thing (yes, yes, there’s always a thing): I don’t want to be thirty. I…
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Moving Ten Meters South
Recently I listened to a speech by Noam Chomsky on my local NPR station, and one of the many things he said that struck me was that given the unprecedented rise in temperatures on this planet, it’s as if we all are moving 10 meters south every single day. Okay, that kind of freaked me…
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Syphilization
In the past, I’ve written about the plight of the bees and the plight of the bats. Frankly, I haven’t had the heart to write about the fact that our butterflies and frogs and coral reefs are disappearing, too. It’s just too depressing. And then just the other day a friend told me about Starfish…
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Just Trying to Stay Warm
As I write this, I’m huddled over the space heater at work. The very marrow of my bones feels like it’s frozen solid. Will I ever be warm again? At home I keep the thermostat in most of the house at 55 degrees, the bedroom at 60. Otherwise the electric bill would give me chilblains.…
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Environmental Pragmatism
I care about the environment very much. I recycle. I conserve whenever I can. I turn off lights. I try to have as little impact on the planet as possible. If I could afford a hybrid car, I’d definitely have one. My purchases are green ones whenever that option is available and within my means.…
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Political Pomposity
Well, it’s official. Global warming is not a hoax. So says the senate. So say we all. What a relief. Before they made their pronouncement, none of us could be sure. Pffft. An even bigger relief (not) is that they voted that human activity has not impacted climate change. Yay! We can all keep our…
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Are you @#%&!^+ KIDDING me???
I was just watching the movie Pretty Woman, and in it, Richard Gere as Edward Lewis says, “It’s just that, uh, very few people surprise me.” Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward replies, “Yeah, well, you’re lucky. Most of ‘em shock the hell outta me.” I’m with Vivian. It seems that I walk around in this…
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The Republic of Nauru, or Making the Most of What You’ve Got
I love learning new things. The other day I got curious as to what is the smallest country in the world aside from Vatican City. It turns out that it’s the Republic of Nauru, an island in the South Pacific that is only 8.1 square miles in area, with a population of about 9,378. Never…