Imagine! Ten Alternate Energy Sources For Living Well With Global Warming

So, are you concerned, worried? Perhaps a little hot under the collar?

Most people now are convinced that climate change is real indeed. Governments are acting as if they believe it! Tax incentives, emission trading, tax and emission credits for solar heating panels, hybrid cars, subsidised windfarms...

So, are you concerned, worried? Perhaps a little hot under the collar?

Most people now are convinced that climate change is real indeed. Governments are acting as if they believe it! Tax incentives, emission trading, tax and emission credits for solar heating panels, hybrid cars, subsidised windfarms...

And for good reason. Huge slabs of glaciers and polar ice are crumbling, ocean levels are rising. We witness hot, dry weather, huge forest fires, water restrictions, crop failures...

Also, rising fuel, food, transport and other energy prices.

You name it, these symptoms of a warming world now play a real part in my life and yours. According to the International Panel on Climate Change, and many scientists, global warming and climate change are facts of life , here to stay for the long term.

Huge problems beyond your control!

More of us really feel hot under the collar.

And, if you're not, you probably live in a city, where half of the Earth's citizens now live. There it is easier to take these effects of global warming for granted.

Because in city living we are far removed from natural processes that deliver our food, clothing and energy.

Does your child even know that milk comes from a cow - or a soya bean if you're that way inclined - and not from a milk carton?

Do you understand how you and I are the the villains in this global warming piece?

Even in the city you cannot stick your head in the sand (or under the asphalt? - OUCH) and you are not immune from climate change.

Silent witnesses are the 15,000 mostly elderly people that died in Paris alone in the sizzling hot European summer of 2003. Or the many killed in New Orleans at the 'hands' of cyclone Katrina.

And if you do feel hot under the collar, do you think perhaps that there will be some miraculous scientific break-through? Perhaps "They" will fix the Earth?

The ultimate stem cell technology! Hhmmm... Maybe that can clone a new Planet Earth for us!

But seriously, for many of us it is just all too hard, isn't it?

What you want, what we all want, is to live a life where we may raise our children to have a good and safe future.

Ordinary things... A future of some predictability: of schooling, a job, a family, community, of achievements and an enjoyable life - on a healthy planet Earth.

Is this a fading dream, once a reasonable expectation? Hard to say. Maybe, maybe not.

My world and yours is undoubtedly changing in major ways. There are great challenges ahead and it is too late to stop global warming. The IPCC says that even with zero greenhouse gas emissions today global warming will be with us for many decades because of the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.

The Earth has changed and the processes it uses to regulate itself are adjusting themselves. And these changes will not suit human life as it is.

But yYou are not powerless. Better believe it!

Each person alone can change the world, one by one. How?Do I say that these problems are under our control then?Well, yes and no.

You are living in a severely disabled world.

Disability is mainly caused by values, attitudes towards a part of the human condition that no-one likes. But from the experience of disability we can learn how to survive and thrive with impairment. With impaired ecological systems – a changed world.

"Come on, get real", you say?

Do I hear: "Just show me the right technology, the right alternate energy sources and we'll get out of this mess."

True, we desperately do need to switch to renewable energy sources that do not make a greenhouse out of our home, the Earth.

But all the technology in the world by itself will never be enough to survive and flourish.

Renewable energy sources alone will not teach us to accept limits, unpredictability and what it is to lead a rewarding life.

How we have lived collectively, in our billions, for the last few hundred years, has got us to this point. And by changing what we do we can live through climate change as best as we might. Even now.

It's simple and it's hard work. No way out of that.

Many people with severe disabilities know this. And they report the same or better life satisfaction as anyone else--under highly challenging, vulnerable circumstances.

So, you can learn to live well in a disabled world.Regardless of what is to come you and I will be well served by the beliefs and strategies that people with disabilities use to - not just to survive - but to live well.

These are our true alternate energy sources.

And we all have them inside of us. Those that guide us how to use what we have in a sustainable way.

These 'disabled people' believe this:

*Accept that all of us are fragile and vulnerable
*The world is full of limits. We need some of these to live well*Vulnerability and dependence are an inevitable part of a whole life
*No-one is independent, but interdependent
*Connection with others is our lifeline and our wellbeing

And they do this:

*Engage with others to build positive relationship, where you live, work and play
*Pay attention to other's needs and that of the environment
*Take your fair share of responsibility for the situation you're in
*Care for others and the environment competently
*Be assertive and use your humor and creativity

Not all people with disabilities act in this way of course, or can do so. And I'd be the last to portray people with disabilities as heroes. We're just people - trying to get on.

Like you.

Why don't you you try that!

Talk to that elderly man in your street. Offer a hand when someone needs it.

Reaching out, doing such small things will connect you with others and your environment.

And do also use the 'regular' renewable alternate energy sources, and recycle too. For example,I'd be the last to pass up the technology that can save up to 40% of my electrical energy use and my bill!

Or save massively on my car fuel and emissions!

But you can change your local world for free by acting in these ways.

And if all fails - regardless?

Well, it's the only way to go!

Perhaps your world might be just as hot but it'll be cooler under your collar!

It's an art! You're the artist aren't you.

Copyright 2007 Erik Leipoldt----------------------------------------------------------------Dr Erik Leipoldt has long been concerned about the effects of global warming. He uses his experience of severe disability in practical approaches towards alternate energy sources to survive and thrive with climate change. See http://www.alternate-energy-sources.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------YOU MAY COPY AND PUBLISH THE ABOVE ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, NEWSLETTER OR ON YOUR WEBSITE UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS ONLY:1.Article must be reproduced in its entirety, including the resource box containing information about the author2.No changes may be made without author's permission3.The author must be acknowledged.