Sometimes its not easy for me to explain -- in a basic, straightforward way -- why I want fossil fuel use outlawed.  I have a hard time putting into words why I am so disgusted, sad & shocked by our collective failure to stop using coal, oil and gas. 

I have trouble distilling my huge emotions, boatloads of factual reasons, plus my physical desire to barf into a single rational, easily-understood sentence. Finally I can say simply -- at the heart of it -- I want greenhouse gas pollution stopped because its killing people.  And because it has the potential to kill a lot more people if we don't stop it.  

You wanna hear the facts to back that up? Or did I lose you already cause that's too scary to think about?

My Belgian friend, Greet, speaks perfect English.  In fact, sometimes the way she says things is better than perfect.  She always tells it like it is, so there is usually a little shock value in her super-direct talk. Then she makes things even more entertaining with some slightly unusual word choices. The combo always makes me laugh. And who doesn't love that?

About a month ago, I went to a Bar Mitzvah for my friend's son.  My friend, by the way, does not want even one peep about her to show up on this blog, so I will have to leave her & her lovely family out of the story. This will just be about another new word I learned and what it made me think about while I sat in awe during the ceremony. 

Coffee went along great for while.  My friend Federica is very cool and plus she is Italian so her coffee & biscotti are really good  -- basically like all the rest of her cooking.  We caught up about Fede's impressive photography work for a little: a Habitat for Humanity project, shooting a recent fundraiser for the homeless in SF, her on-going series documenting the work of family farms. You gotta admit, this lady is all over it as far as caring about some big social issues.

When she turned the talk to what I've been up to, I remember it going something like this --

This selfie’s old news, but I wanted a headline for all you US Weekly lovers out there. This post is for everyone who hates reading the real news because its depressing, makes you feel helpless, hopeless or generally bad .  I guess thats a lot of us since People Magazine has the biggest audience of any magazine in America -- at least according to Wikipedia. 

Most of the time you can get away with avoiding the big, bad world news. Once in while, though, really big news comes along that you need to know even if you don't want to -- because knowing will help you protect yourself & your kids.  

Worried about climate change? Here's how to help: 
1. Change to CFL lightbulbs
2. Use power strips to prevent electronics'  "vampire load"
3. Buy fewer things
4. Look for a fossil-fuel free option from your utility  or get solar panels
5. When you need to buy a new car, look at the fuel economy

Sometimes its hard not to feel like a total idiot, if you're me. I couldn't tell ya how many lists like this I have combed through trying make sure I was doing all the right things. Its embarrassing, but I fell for all this stuff. 

Not that I regret for a minute any of my feeble attempts to conserve energy -- I don't. I still recommend this stuff to other people -- for sure on principle, partly as a conversation starter & sometimes as way to help kids feel more in control. 

The thing is, I am hoping maybe I can save a few of you from making my mistake: thinking you can "do your part" and the rest will take care of itself. I've wasted valuable time being distracted by all the cycling, recycling, buying local, etc. I wish I'd realized sooner what little difference this is making. 

What we need to do is very different from having a handful of individuals voluntarily cut back a bit at the margin. Fixing our carbon problem can still be boiled down to a short list, but the list has gotta look a lot different than I thought at first. 

We need to: 
1) cut carbon emissions nationwide as quickly as possible -- at least 10% a year if we start now for a 50/50 chance at limiting warming to +2C
2) use current dirty energy much more efficiently during the time it takes to replace coal, oil & gas as fast as we can with anything else (nuclear, solar, wind, hydro & geothermal etc) that doesn't produce carbon. 
3) get the whole world to do the same. 

First step toward getting something done is knowing what needs to be done. Then, we need to be able to monitor the progress toward our goal.  I can see I am not making a dent. Swimming up stream's just not working for me. Gonna take all of us pulling in the same direction. 

From thousands of pages of reports, I dug out this key sentence: "very hot days are projected to be about 10 F degrees hotter than today." So, I looked up the very hot days (record highs) for a few cities & added 10 F.

• Las Vegas  117 + 10 = 127 F
• Boston 104 + 10 = 114 F
• Chicago 104 + 10 = 114 F
• Sacramento 114 + 10 = 124 F
• Dallas 112+10 = 122 F
• Phoenix 122+10 = 132

To complete the picture, I finished by googling "hottest places on Earth." Several of the top 10 were around 130 F -- like Death Valley.  Roll on as we are and we've got Vegas & Phoenix entering Death Valley territory, with Sacramento & Dallas not too far behind. 

Is there a place you wonder about? US Geologic Survey has a clickable map that will show future average temperatures for 2 scenarios: 1) we seriously cut carbon, and 2) we keep on going as we have been. 

I hate it when my talk about climate change gets me tagged an environmentalist --  it shows me people don't understand the threats we face. Climate change is a big problem for humans, not just a problem for beautiful wild places or a certain few species.  I'm not so worried about some of the "nice to haves" but am seriously concerned about the "have to haves."  I don't think you have to be to be an environmentalist to agree people need these. 

I don't know what I can do to change the direction the world is headed -- carbon pollution-wise, I mean. Sounds ridiculous, but I've even tried to stop worrying about climate change. I think I might make a lot of people around me happy if I could dial up the denial & stop being such a downer.  

Another line that plagues me: "we can adapt."  May so, maybe no. One thing is for sure, though. I am really pissed that I'm gonna have to find out --

I grew up in Idaho.  Among other things, I liked skiing in the winter & going to the mountains in the summer.  At the lake, I never get sick of floating on my Walgreen's air mattress, dangling one leg in the cool water & staring up at the sky.  

Now, we have less snow.  Forests are dying because winters aren't cold enough anymore to kill an insect called the pine beetle that destroys pine trees....  

I was rereading "To Kill A Mockingbird" a few weeks ago -- just grabbed it off a shelf in a bored moment.  Its a book you probably last came across in High School English class.  Set in the South during the Great Depression, the story is about a lawyer -- Atticus --  who agrees to take a case & defend a guy, Tom, even though Atticus knows they have basically no chance of winning.

One scene really hit me --

Don't tell me you think we are making pretty good progress with solar. Don't tell me that we just need more time, that change happens slowly. Tell it to the moms who have already lost everything & see what they have to say --

Tell it to Patrcia -- whose daughter Angela was torn out of her arms & died when flood waters ripped their home apart during Hurricane Sandy.  Tell it to Jahanara, who was forced to sell 2 kids into slavery after their home was washed into the sea by Hurricane Aila -- leaving her with nothing but farmland ruined by saltwater & no way to make ends meet. I don't think they'd agree we're making good progress or its ok to take our time.  

Just now when I was taking out the recycling, a gorgeous blond lady drove by me in a convertible Ferrari and smiled. 

All I managed to do was scowl at her a little.  I just barely saw a confused expression come over her face before she gunned it & sped away. She probably had no idea I was hating her 15 mpg ride. I hope somehow this is how new social norms are created --  one evil eye at a time.