Launching the 'Carbon Freeze' Movement

Twenty years ago, as the nuclear arsenal proliferated madly, a few of us called for a Nuclear Freeze.

Al Gore at that time dismissed the Nuclear Freeze movement as "naive and simplistic." Funny, those are not words I would use to describe Linus Pauling, Carl Sagan or, for that fact myself. My husband was an active duty SAC officer at that time, serving in a Missile Installation and Maintenance Squadron. I had to walk a very fine line, but I had brought children into this world. I had a responsibility to help stop the madness. That was the rallying cry, and we identified one another by lapel pins that read simply Nobody's Dupe.

The Nuclear Freeze movement started out as a few dedicated individuals. As Margaret Meade said, Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Now twenty years on, Al Gore has adjusted his thinking. He is a believer in the power of the populace to demand a Freeze of activity that represents an existential threat to the nation and to the human race itself.

Global Warming represents just such a threat. Specifically, Global Warming driven by human activity represents just such a threat. This is undeniable to pretty much everyone with a functioning neural system and it is not open for debate. Deal with reality, or else reality will deal with you. Just accept that anthropogenic global warming is a fact and advance one space on the board.

In that light, Al Gore will next month launch a grass-roots campaign that he is calling the Carbon Freeze Movement.

You do realize it's up to us, right? And by us I mean the literal you and the literal me. Us. We have to work together to demand accountability from our leaders and we have to work together to reduce our footprint on the earth. We need to each and every one of us take some simple steps to reduce our carbon emissions. Nobody has to do it all. If we each do a little the effects will be exponential.

1. Once a week, either take public transportation, carpool or ride a bike.

2. Lower your thermostat one degree in the winter and raise it one degree in the summer. (Try to do this three times over the course of the season.)

3. Turn your refrigerator up a couple of degrees and your water heater down a couple of degrees.

4. Run your household electronics through a zip-strip and cut the current when they are not in use. This step alone would save the average American household about $175 per year. How much electricity is wasted by electronic devices constantly asking their remotes "are you talking to me?"

5. Never buy another incandescent light bulb again. Buy the hi-effeciency flourescent's that some of us went to ten years ago. They use less energy and they last longer. It's win-win.

In short, I am all for a Carbon Freeze Movement. Sign me up, I'm ready.

And once we get a handle on the freeze, we immediately start reducing our carbon emmissions. We have to. Our future existence depends on it.