Copenhagen Climate Disasters #3

        For my last post on Hiawatha House I dealt with what individuals can do to help fight gobal warming and climate change. Individuals do have a very vital part in climate change.

       For this post I will deal with the broader picture. The Copenhagen Conference was a group of nations who supposedly met to bring about some solutions to climate change. It is important for treaties to be made as governments set up rules, regulations and policies which hopefully would lead to a decrease in the productions of green house gases which contribute to global warming. The citizens and industries of each country would be forced to reduce their contributions to green house gases.

      Industries produce most of our green house gases. One culprit which produces highly is the power industry and coal fired power plants. In Alberta, the oil sands contribute not only an enormous volume of green house gases, but also destroy natural areas and our water. For large industries the monetary implications are huge. Investment and competition complicates things. We as individuals want more power. So we're all in this together. As consumers we are going to have to pay more for energy and products we purchase so that costs to reduce green house gases can be covered.

     So all people on this earth are going to have to be prepared to contribute more to reduce green house gas. The key word is reduce. Our Canadian government wants us and the world to think that they are doing wonderful things to reduce green house gases.Unfortunately for us, our Govt. is only spouting words and playing shell games. It's a complicated issue and for the ordinary citizen it's difficult to know what is going on.

     All of us have to take global warming seeriously and work together to begin reducing it. We can't just look at the other guy and expect him to do the job while we do nothing.

     Let me know what you think we could do to bring about some solutions to this issue.

    

514% Increase "Ain't" Bad!

     I recently read a news item dealing with the increase in Face Book accounts for 2009. The part that caught my attention was that there was a 514% increase in accounts started by ages 50 and over! And I was one of the 514%!

     I was certainly aware of Face Book . But I listened to CBC interviews and the scoop was that Face Book was for younger people ...possibly college or university age. I had no interest in Face Book . The rumor was that security was a problem.

    However, a friend or two kept talking about Face Book. In fact, we were discussing using Face Book as a vehicle to increase membership in an organization we belonged to.
  
    So one day I ended up looking at Face Book . Before very long I found people I knew and looked at their list of friends and saw more people I knew. Then I accidentally checked on relatives! I found most of my nieces and nephews on Face Book. That did it! I started a Face Book account and found out how to navigate through aspects of Face Book. I very cautiously invited 2 or 3 friends and then sat back. People invited me to be their friend and things just grew.

     I happily reported to my brother that I had started a Face Book page. He very flatly said, "We won't be on Face Book!" Less than 6 months later his wife was on Face Book because my brother thought it would be a good idea! So there's two of us with the same idea who changed their minds quickly. We could see the advantages to be gained from Face Book.

     From then on I followed what people were doing and reported my activities. Now I eagerly anticipate Face Book activities each day. So, since I joined Face Book in 2009 and am much over 50 , I fit into the 514% and am proud to be part of  that crowd.