Words really can’t express my frustration with the persistence of the head-in-the-sand, anti-environmental crowd who spout nonsense like “water vapor is the REAL greenhouse gas, not carbon dioxide!” and “well, we can’t do anything about it!” where “it” is climate change or the wanton destruction of species and entire ecosystems around the world. The excuses go on, to “it’s all hype,” and the more recent fresh-out-of-the-mud whines, “environmentally friendly stuff is all about marketing,” and “carbon offsets/neutrality/awareness is an industry just trying to milk your cash” as well as the age-old, proven-wrong-a-million-times “global warming doesn’t exist/isn’t human caused/the earth is flat/insert disproven theory here.” It’s incredibly frustrating watching people who try to speak up and give people practical, sensible advice about being environmentally conscious and embrace behaviors that can do simple things like clean the air and water and very possibly work towards collectively leaving the planet in better condition than we received it, and it’s incredibly discouraging that the same arguments, the same lies, and the same misnformation simply because it allows them to close their eyes, shove their heads in the sand, and go on through their lives without caring about anything or anyone around them. We’ve seen this kind of mentality in the White House, in Congress, in political groups and lobbyists, in people like the recently deceased Jerry Falwell, all the way down to the average person filling up their tank at the gas station. “If it’s not in my backyard it doesn’t concern me.” “I’ll only care about the environment when gas is more than $3.00/gallon, not less.” The list goes on.

It’s distressing that intelligent, concious, or even empathetic people say something, anything, that might encourage someone to do something environmentally positive, from clean up the trash on the side of the road to recycle their bottles, the “THERES NOTHING WE CAN DO WHO GIVES A CRAP ITS ALL A HOAX ANYWAY” crowd comes out to bash it. Why are people so resistant to doing things they CAN do instead of waving problems off on things they CAN’T do anything about?

Seriously. Some of us actually care about clean air and water, some of us like to swim in our rivers, and some of us appreciate a healthy environment, a healthy planet, and want to do our part to make it a reality, regardless of some ill-informed others. Let’s get started.

There are a lot of myths running around about hybrid vehicles still, amusedly from the whole “where do you plug it in” that some folks still believe to the “hybrids are expensive” and “people only buy hybrids to save money on gas, and they don’t, so why bother” myth. Here’s a list of hybrid myths, and the scoop on the truth.

[ Hybrid Myths ]
Source: Yahoo! Autos

A lot of attention has gone towards carbon offsets, and things that individuals can do to decrease their dependence on energy and to reduce their energy consumption overall. Many of these little tricks are things that we can and should do anyway to lower our energy costs, buy more efficient and in the long-run cheaper appliances, and yes, in the end, make an impact on the environment. Some people like to claim that those things we can’t directly impact, like deforestation, for example, are much bigger, so things like these have no purpose, but I’d disagree strongly: there’s a little thing called incremental progress – doing the things you can do to make small changes because you can’t do the large things, and never doubt that if everyone did something small, it would add up to very very large things.

For example, if everyone stopped buying items made with cheap imported wood and bought from local craftsmen and sustainable or fallen lumber (which, by the way, is usually the same price), then deforestation wouldn’t be an issue because there’d be no market for the wholesale slash and burn of old growth forests. But see, thinking isn’t exactly the strong suit of the head-in-the-sand crowd.

Find out what you can do by determining how large your carbon footprint is:

[ Zerofootprint Carbon Calculator ]
Source: Zerofootprint.net

And make a plan of your own to cut back on your energy dependence at Yahoo! Green:

[ Yahoo! Green ]
Source: Yahoo!

Click on “Count Me In” to make your own pollutant-reducing, earth-helping plan, and make a difference, however small.

If you’re looking for more information on climate change, and how you can make a difference, and what new technologies can lead us and our world to a healthier future overall, I have high praise for Dr. Heidi Cullen at the Weather Channel, whose program Forecast Earth (previously known as The Climate Code) is a stellar addition to television programming:

[ Forecast Earth ]
Source: The Weather Channel