Why Climate Change Could be the Best Thing that's Happened to America. Part 2

continued from part 1

The kids are in bed and my wife is sleeping on the couch. I should be writing about how it was such a magnificent Thanksgiving. I mean we really nailed it. Norman Rockwell would have been exhausted by the sheer amount of family goodness there was to capture. The boys played with their cousins, the adults alternated between food, drinks, football and playing with the kids, and sometimes that happened all at once. So it was good, very good. Add to that wholesome picture a wife that is due at any moment, and you've got a holiday feast of creative writing opportunities.

But...but...I'm going to be the douchey "more you know" green jeans telling you what's really on my mind. And it all goes back to kids and family and fun times, and how we're creating a place that isn't going to be so hospitable anymore. We're getting hot, and the world is becoming more dangerous. The Pentagon has even put climate change on their shit list of destabilizing global issues. And yet we don't seem to want to do anything about it. Well, we want to, but it's hard, which is why I'm going to be laying out some ideas for how to change the change for the better.

Yes, it's getting hotter, and because of that, the ice is melting faster. Because of that, water levels are rising and more water is entering the atmosphere. Those are the ingredients to a shitstorm of catastrophic proportions. And to add to the big stew of irony and death, despite all of the extra moisture, more drought is taking place. All I know is that helping to stem this disaster is just a home cooked meal away. It's a bicycle trip to the store. It's walking to the voting booth instead of driving. It's getting better light bulbs and wearing more sweaters. It's the stuff we should do anyway to keep from killing ourselves with inactivity and fast food. That's pretty cool. The biggest problem humanity has ever faced can be the solution to so many of our other issues. 

We're getting a break right now--a window to do something. Climate change is that trip to the doctor where she shakes her head and warns you about your lifestyle. It's the mild heart attack that has us improving our lives. Heart disease? Doctors suggest exercise. Cancer. We need to eat more veggies and less meat. Obesity. Well, that kind of explains itself. Oil dependency? Asthma? Hyperactivity? C'mon, this is getting kind of easy. Let's do this before it gets crazy difficult. 

I know, so walking instead of driving sounds like a little thing, and even in the most idealistic world the little things may not add up to be enough. But they can if we do two things: take politics out of it and be a country that leads again. That's next...