Classical Values :: Thinking globally, acting locally.

Thinking globally, acting locally.

We can change the world
Rearrange the world

It's dying - to get better

-- Graham Nash

In a self-reproaching post yesterday, I grudgingly admitted that the ice at a local lake is showing clear signs of global warming, and I don't want it said about me that I am one of those passive types who sits around and gets alarmed, yet refuses to take active measures to stop the crisis which even fourth graders in Maine describe as a "huge pending global disaster," but that "we all have the means to change it together."

Change starts at home. (And I don't mean changing light bulbs, for much as I love my CFLs, in all honesty they have not resulted in any demonstrable cooling in my house.)

Via leading Australian environmental advocate Tim Blair, I am persuaded that the best place to start is in my kitchen.

Encouraging others to pitch in with personal stories of how they helped cool the world, Mr. Blair started the Blair Fridge Project, and overwhelming reader response led to another post, with an utterly inspiring group of photo submissions, showing that we truly can change the world, by making it a cooler place! One fridge at a time!

This fits in with the civic message that each citizen must be held accountable. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. This finds justification in the Bible:

"And all went to be taxed. Every man into his own city."

Like the incredibly cool Denver -- which is planning to tax citizens based on their individual coolness or uncoolness. And just think -- in Denver 9 of the 10 warmest years occurred before 1955, which means the cooling must already have been working in an anticipatory manner for years!

(I'd note parenthetically that Denver is also cracking down on methane producing animals, with the worst offenders being ordered to "leave the city or be killed." Well, even though the overwhelming scientific consensus does say that animals are the number one cause of anthropogenic global warming, mass killing goes too far to suit my tastes.)

Better for now just to tax and spend, and use incentives to encourage citizens to turn in deadbeat noncomplying emitters.

But clearly, it's not enough merely to use CFLs. What is needed are active cooling measures, like the citizen refrigerator. Think of it! If each citizen runs at least one refrigerator, I don't know how much cooling that is, but the sum total is obviously way cool and I wonder whether the scientists have been taking accurate spot measurements into account in their averages, because it wouldn't be accurate to declare that my house is 90 degrees just because it's 90 degrees outside! You have to average in the refrigerator temperature along with the air-conditioning, to get the full picture.

Anyway, I want it known I'm doing my part, so here's my better-late-than-never submission:

In particular, note the heavy-duty industrial thermometer on top of the fridge. Its gauge goes all the way up to 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, so you can't say I'm not prepared!

Changing the world is a matter of degree.