Global Warming

by Carol Stephenson

My Mom's pretty cool.  She's a gardener and an avid environmentalist.  And as a cool, gardening environmentalist mom, when she was out in the garden and came upon a spider web, she'd call the kids out, take her spray bottle of water and spray the web so we could see its design.  Then she'd stand back and say "Isn't that cool?"

Well, as the daughter of a cool gardening environmentalist mom, I just wanted to find a sharp stick to poke that spider.  But, my mom wouldn't allow that, explaining that the spider was doing its part because It would catch and consume dozens of bugs and along with all the other spiders around our house, and all the spiders in the neighborhood together, they could catch a billion bugs, keeping all those gardens healthy.  Again, I wasn't impressed. 

I figured if she just let me find that stick I could kill a couple dozen bugs. 

But in the house I grew up in, that wasn't cool.

It turns out that we, at First Unitarian, are also pretty cool.  We, too, are doing our parts to try to keep our Earth garden healthy.  Nearly all of us recycle, many live near where they work, and a good number have invested in insulating windows.  Some of us drive hybrid cars, a fair number have solar panels, and a few don't even own a car.  One person in our congregation traveled 24,000 miles last year on public transportation. 

Now THAT is cool.

But the thing about being cool is that you gotta stay up-to-date.  So unlike the spider who does its part by consuming more, we'll do our part by consuming less. 

We are going to go on an ENERGY DIET  . . . together!  So, when you get that late night craving to turn up the thermostat, or your stomach starts grumbling to drive faster on the freeway, just remember that the Social Justice Ministries led by the Global Warming Task Force is right there with you supporting your healthy conservation choices.  And it not just pounds we'll lose, WE will be shedding TONS of climate changing Carbon from being released into the atmosphere.  In fact, if we, as a community of about 300 households, all lower our thermostats by just 2 degrees, we will emit 14 tons less carbon in one year. If we reduce our highway speed by 10 miles per hour, we will lower our carbon emissions by another 15 tons. And if we replace our incandescent light bulbs with flourescent, we'll emit 31 tons less carbon into our atmosphere.

And wouldn't that be cool?