Sustainable Living by Shawn Dell Joyce

I'm writing this in the midst of yet another snowstorm, with a few inches still piled up from the last one. Many people have taken this opportunity to wag their fingers and say, "What global warming?!"

Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Thomas Friedman coined the term "global weirding" last week to replace the misleading phrase "global warming." While the Earth has warmed a degree, and is projected to warm quicker than natural over the next century, most of us are not feeling very warm today.

Our weather is indeed weird, with massive snow in the South and rain at the Winter Olympics in Canada. Australia is having a record 13-year drought, and Texas ended a drought this winter with massive snowstorms. As a matter of fact, Texas got snow this year before New York did.

What does all this prove or disprove? Nothing. "Climate is what we expect, and weather is what we get," according to NASA. We have only been collecting data on weather for the past 100 years, and trends in climate are measured in thousands of years. A single weather event — like a hurricane, or a spell of unusual weather; like snow in Texas — may be unprecedented but still within the "normal" range.

What is actually happening to our climate is right in line with predicted climate change models. Some parts of the earth are experiencing drought, while flooding happens elsewhere simultaneously. Storms are more severe, summers are hotter, spring comes earlier and polar ice is diminishing.

Many old-timers in my region of New York remember waist-high snow drifts and ice skating to school on frozen rivers. We haven't seen a REAL severe winter in a while if you talk to those who actually lived through them.

Some of us tourists (residents who haven't lived here 20 years yet) quake in fear at the thought of a Nor'easter.

Whether one actually believes in human-driven climate change or not has become irrelevant. The truth is that we all have to eat and breathe, and both things are becoming more difficult as our population swells and resources become tight. If you care about clean air, water and food security, then we have enough common ground to rebuild our country with green energy and localized economies.

We sorely need industry in our country, and unfortunately, most of it has been outsourced overseas. Renewable energy, energy efficiency, cultural tourism and other similar industries are the only ones that can't be completely outsourced because they are place-based. You can't wrap up an apartment building and send it to China for weatherization. That is something that has to be done here, by a trained local person.

Friedman writes: "I suspect China is quietly laughing at us right now. And Iran, Russia, Venezuela and the whole OPEC gang are high-fiving each other. Nothing better serves their interests than to see Americans becoming confused about climate change and, therefore, less inclined to move toward clean-tech and, therefore, more certain to remain addicted to oil."

Let's stop debating each other and actually do something for a change. Let's get America back on her feet and into the green millennium so that our kids and grandkids stand a chance. Support renewable energy, and move our country away from imported oil. Create jobs here by supporting small local businesses and farms.

Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and founder of the Wallkill River School in Orange County, N.Y. You can contact her at Shawn@ShawnDellJoyce.com. To find out more about Shawn Dell Joyce and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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