And then suddenly . . .

Your problems seem kind of small by comparison. That knot in your chest you've been feeling for days, it seems pathetic. Your father's financial problems are mere trifles. Getting idling cars off the road should become getting cars, period, off the road.

Our climate is changing. Models are produced all the time, a supercomputer fuelled crystal ball into the future. The latest from a researcher in the UK has painted a fairly bleak picture of the results of a modest rise of between 2-3 degrees Celsius. Chaotic weather, droughts, floods, heatwaves and worst of all the death of between 30-60 percent of the world's forests. Like a chronic smoker we are destroying our lungs and our beautiful body for a fleeting moment of pleasure.

Sadly it's almost at the point where there's nothing we will be able to do to reverse these changes. Even if we stopped all greenhouse gas production tomorrow there's still enough gases in the atmosphere to continue warming the planet for the next 100 years. And do you really think that humans are going to stop burning the fuel that fires their industries, wars and lives? We are global warming personified in busy little blast furnaces.

How are we going to react to climate change? How am I going to react to climate change? How are you? I think that we'll stay the course, burning up and living fast, because the alternative is too shocking to consider. Maybe no more DVDs. Maybe no more cottages. Maybe no more bananas and avocados from far off lands. Our lives, so sweet, changed irrevocably. Denial is a powerful thing.

We are encouraged to think only of ourselves. Climate change is a challenge that demands we think of our great grandchildren. What kind of lives will they have?

You know I was going to end the entry there, bleakly, but instead I'll offer some suggestions for you to join the fight against climate change starting with the simple to the more complex:

• Stop idling your car needlessly. Turn off your engine whenever you are stopped for more than 10 seconds. This is pure waste.
• Buy a programmable thermostat for your house. It will save tons of natural gas by making sure your house is comfortable only when you are home and keeping the temperature down at other times.
• Use air conditioning sparingly or turn it up a few degrees; who wants to live in an ice box? Most of heat we hate is caused by humidity after all.
  
• Eat most of your food from local sources. Those apples you eat in winter often come all the way from Chile. That's a lot of oil burned to bring them to your table.
• Contact a local organic farm and buy a share in a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) scheme. You could probably find one online or through a natural food store in your city or town.
• Eat less meat. Meat requires a lot of energy to be produced. Do you really need to eat meat 3 times a day, 7 days a week? No, and your body will thank you for giving it a break too.
  
• Buy a tree or two for your home. Make sure you cover the base with lots of mulch.
  
• Don't use your car all the time. Walk more, bike more, use mass transit more.
  
• Ask your boss if you could work remotely or from home to save on your commute. Asking won't hurt. Explain why you're concerned.
  
• Move closer to work.
• Buy less crap. Did you really need that shit from the dollar store or Wal-Mart?
  
• Call your politicians and tell them you are concerned about climate change.
  
• Run for your city council and start where you live.
  

Gandhi was right when he said "We must be the change we wish to see in the world". Start with some of these suggestions and soon you'll be changing the world. Climate change is a choice and is not inevitable. I for one don't want to live on a planet that resembles Venus or to condemn my children and their children to such a hellish home.