2016 was the warmest year on record since 1880.
It beat the previous record held by 2015.
which beat the previous record held by 2014.
In fact 9 of the top 12 warmest years on record are in the 21st century
the other year being 1998.
Smart boards in every classroom
Chromebooks on every desk
lights on in empty skyscrapers
more intersections putting in stop lights
smart phones in every hand
with a lap top on every lap
with the TV on in every living room
all connected to wifi
all connected to servers
all using energy
I try to be a hopeful man, but as this January has pasted and February starts up
these week long stretches of 60° days makes me feel uncomfortable
I want to look out my window in the winter and see inches upon inches of snow covering the Ohio ground for weeks and sometimes months in a row, but instead I wake up and wonder if I should even bother with the coat since a long sleeve shirt or a sweater will suffice.
2017 doesn't seem to be off to a calming start, in fact it looks like it's on it's way to beating the record held by the previous year.
I'm nervous because it seems like we keep finding ways to use energy for very simple tasks.
Writing on a dry erase board seemed to work fine when I was in school but now every class is using power.
I've seen more and more Overhead traffic Smart Signs that give drivers and estimated time of arrival to intersecting highways, but all of us are already using the energy from our smart phones to give us an estimated arrival time to our destinations.
People once used manual tools to do work around their homes
Garden shears turned to hedge trimmers
screwdrivers turned to cordless power drill
We all use them, we all own them and we consume energy so simply so senselessly that we can hardly see the connection between our power consumption and the record breaking annual climates
There use to be a time when people would pile on layers of clothes and blankets during the winter, how everyone has the heat cranked high not only that but every vacant commercial building has furnace after furnace working ceaselessly through the night.
But it isn't only the winter months, once the temperature finally rises and you think we would give relief to our power consumption we go the other way, now rather than strip off layers and walk our homes barefoot and shirtless we have the air conditioner set down low.
The more I look around my life the more I see we have found a way to put energy use into everything we encounter and we do it in the name of "smart" but at what cost?
Certainly not financial, I think that is the biggest problem it is so cheap to leave the lights on in the buildings, it costs nearly nothing (financially) for the state to install smart signs all across the roads.
But the reality of it seems to become more and more nervously obvious to me, there is a very very heavy price we are paying for these worthless and sometimes pointless "smart" energy consuming devices.
I wish we could see that the low cost for energy (financially) is a high cost environmentally.
I keep thinking of us as a planet like a man who would sell his own house in order to buy an enormous TV.
What good are any of our modern conveniences if they will one day destroy the only place we know to enjoy them?
What good is our state of the art amazing gigantic television if it costs us our only home?
We continue to mow down forests and ecosystems to make room for more mono culture farming techniques.
We already know these types of agriculture are unsustainable yet we push on.
We already know that genetic diversity is necessary it enhances food security and promotes the preservation of existing foods from disease and climate change.
We know we must continue to artificially input fertilizer on these fields causing run off and algae blooms, using more energy to create, transport, and apply on to these once rich bio diverse lands.
Yet we continue to push mono cultures.
We know it is only a matter of time before bananas become a thing of the past because there is no genetic diversity in the crop we are one disease away from the entire fruit being wiped and extinct from the planet.
I think we each have an obligation to both all living things on this rare planet and to the future generations of tomorrow. We must care for this rare beautiful live giving and sustaining planet.
To do this we must get a little bit colder in the winter by turning the furnace down.
We must get a little warmer in the summer by turning the air conditioner down.
We must turn off lights in rooms we are not occupying.
We must go back to manual tools both around the house and in the kitchen.
We need to start treating electronic devices as a luxury not a right.
If the entire world consumed energy the way America does this planet would already be gone.
It is only a matter of time before underdeveloped countries begin to gain access to energy.
We need to all share this luxury and use it wisely energy should be reserved for the hospitals and the elderly. The youth and the needy.
If we are able bodied to walk, we should take the stairs
If we are able bodied with hands, we should twist the screwdriver
I will do my best to do my part but this is so much bigger than me and it is so much more urgent than a slow movement
May we each sweat a little more so our planet can cool off.
in love with a ghost - we've never met but, can we have a coffee or something?
It beat the previous record held by 2015.
which beat the previous record held by 2014.
In fact 9 of the top 12 warmest years on record are in the 21st century
the other year being 1998.
Smart boards in every classroom
Chromebooks on every desk
lights on in empty skyscrapers
more intersections putting in stop lights
smart phones in every hand
with a lap top on every lap
with the TV on in every living room
all connected to wifi
all connected to servers
all using energy
I try to be a hopeful man, but as this January has pasted and February starts up
these week long stretches of 60° days makes me feel uncomfortable
I want to look out my window in the winter and see inches upon inches of snow covering the Ohio ground for weeks and sometimes months in a row, but instead I wake up and wonder if I should even bother with the coat since a long sleeve shirt or a sweater will suffice.
2017 doesn't seem to be off to a calming start, in fact it looks like it's on it's way to beating the record held by the previous year.
I'm nervous because it seems like we keep finding ways to use energy for very simple tasks.
Writing on a dry erase board seemed to work fine when I was in school but now every class is using power.
I've seen more and more Overhead traffic Smart Signs that give drivers and estimated time of arrival to intersecting highways, but all of us are already using the energy from our smart phones to give us an estimated arrival time to our destinations.
People once used manual tools to do work around their homes
Garden shears turned to hedge trimmers
screwdrivers turned to cordless power drill
We all use them, we all own them and we consume energy so simply so senselessly that we can hardly see the connection between our power consumption and the record breaking annual climates
There use to be a time when people would pile on layers of clothes and blankets during the winter, how everyone has the heat cranked high not only that but every vacant commercial building has furnace after furnace working ceaselessly through the night.
But it isn't only the winter months, once the temperature finally rises and you think we would give relief to our power consumption we go the other way, now rather than strip off layers and walk our homes barefoot and shirtless we have the air conditioner set down low.
The more I look around my life the more I see we have found a way to put energy use into everything we encounter and we do it in the name of "smart" but at what cost?
Certainly not financial, I think that is the biggest problem it is so cheap to leave the lights on in the buildings, it costs nearly nothing (financially) for the state to install smart signs all across the roads.
But the reality of it seems to become more and more nervously obvious to me, there is a very very heavy price we are paying for these worthless and sometimes pointless "smart" energy consuming devices.
I wish we could see that the low cost for energy (financially) is a high cost environmentally.
I keep thinking of us as a planet like a man who would sell his own house in order to buy an enormous TV.
What good are any of our modern conveniences if they will one day destroy the only place we know to enjoy them?
What good is our state of the art amazing gigantic television if it costs us our only home?
We continue to mow down forests and ecosystems to make room for more mono culture farming techniques.
We already know these types of agriculture are unsustainable yet we push on.
We already know that genetic diversity is necessary it enhances food security and promotes the preservation of existing foods from disease and climate change.
We know we must continue to artificially input fertilizer on these fields causing run off and algae blooms, using more energy to create, transport, and apply on to these once rich bio diverse lands.
Yet we continue to push mono cultures.
We know it is only a matter of time before bananas become a thing of the past because there is no genetic diversity in the crop we are one disease away from the entire fruit being wiped and extinct from the planet.
I think we each have an obligation to both all living things on this rare planet and to the future generations of tomorrow. We must care for this rare beautiful live giving and sustaining planet.
To do this we must get a little bit colder in the winter by turning the furnace down.
We must get a little warmer in the summer by turning the air conditioner down.
We must turn off lights in rooms we are not occupying.
We must go back to manual tools both around the house and in the kitchen.
We need to start treating electronic devices as a luxury not a right.
If the entire world consumed energy the way America does this planet would already be gone.
It is only a matter of time before underdeveloped countries begin to gain access to energy.
We need to all share this luxury and use it wisely energy should be reserved for the hospitals and the elderly. The youth and the needy.
If we are able bodied to walk, we should take the stairs
If we are able bodied with hands, we should twist the screwdriver
I will do my best to do my part but this is so much bigger than me and it is so much more urgent than a slow movement
May we each sweat a little more so our planet can cool off.
in love with a ghost - we've never met but, can we have a coffee or something?