Notes from a disheartened environmentalist, looking out her snow-covered window...

Let me begin by saying I love the earth. Not so much ALL the people on it, but the earth is my mother, and the source of all that keeps us alive.

That being said, as far back as High School I was pro-environment. That was the mid-eighties, for the record. When I heard that my aerosol hair spray was putting a hole in the ozone layer, I switched to a pump style spray bottle - even though it meant my super-tall Jersey Girl eighties hair was a little less big, it was a sacrifice I felt I had to make.

A group of my friends banded together and formed SHAPE - Students Helping ... well, something about protecting the environment. Did I mention it was like 20 years ago? There was no recycling program in our school then, and so we put boxes in every classroom, and we all got to school early and went to each room and collected the cans and bottles to recycle. And endured a significant amount of "trashpicker" jokes - not an easy thing in High School.

Now, as an adult and a mother, I want to make sure we do everything we can. We recycle in the house, and my kids, 3 and 6, know what's recycling and goes in the "back" trash can, and what isn't. We have a compost bin on our counter, and they know banana peels and orange peels go into compost. We have a chemical-free, pesticide-free, fertilizer-free (but for the compost) garden in our backyard every year. We water the garden almost exclusively from the two water collection barrels we have installed by our gutters.

Our lawn is chemical free. It shows, but what can ya do. The cleaners in our house are all from environmentally-conscious companies like Seventh Generation, or are homemade from vinegar and baking soda. (We do keep bleach cleaners on-hand in case of some sort of mildew emergency in the bathrooms.) We use recycled paper. We use recycled paper towels. God help us, we use recycled toilet paper. I even moved to walking distance from my work so that I would cut down on emissions from my car.

We belong to a local organic veggie co-op. We buy cage-free organic eggs (allegedly, anyway) and organic milk and dairy. Organic meat is incredibly expensive, so we haven't completely committed to that yet. (Although watch for chicken labeled "hormone-free" and priced higher - in fact, they're not ALLOWED to use hormones in chickens. So it's not really saying anything at all.)

What's my point? I'll tell you.

That global warming has become a joke pisses me off. I believed it for a long time - and arranged my life differently to try to do my part. The whole time, I was thinking in the back of my head - really? Carbon dioxide is so bad for the world? But, well, science is science. Whole corporations were built - and making a ton of money - based on this "science". It became the call of the environmentalist - if you didn't believe it, or even dared question it - then you must HATE the earth, and you're a "denier" and you're dumb and don't deserve to call yourself an environmentalist. In short, toe the company line, or you're out.

Well, it turns out the science isn't as clear-cut as everyone would have us believe. Even if it is true, there's enough doubt cast by self-serving, arrogant scientists partnered with huge government agencies and multi-million dollar corporations - the axis of evil, it seems - to cover up holes in the theories and push this agenda to the point of insanity.

Now what? I will NO LONGER toe ANYONE'S company line. I will think for myself.

And as an environmentalist, and a pro-earth type person, I think that the focus on Global Warming to the exclusion of everything else was a mistake from the beginning.

For example,

• Fish, a source of rich nutrients and essential fats to the human race, are now so polluted that it's recommended we limit our intake to only 2 servings a week, due to the risk of mercury poisoning. Pregnant ladies are afraid to eat fish at all, even though it contains nutrients ESSENTIAL to the health of their unborn children.
  
• Run-off from pesticides and chemicals are causing amphibians to spontaneously change genders? Chemicals in waters that we all enjoy are causing very strange reproductive issues - so far, only in smaller animals, but for how long?
  
• The FDA, who is supposed to be looking out for us and our health, are so entrenched with corporations that they allow very strange "additives" to be added to various foods without enforcing labeling - because they're "additives", not ingredients. Did you know that your deli meat may have been treated with a special bacteria-eating virus to prevent Listeria? They approved this chemical for use, and decided that we didn't even deserve to be told it's being used. About 500 people die from Listeria. As a percentage of the American population, that's pretty low to risk the entire deli-meat eating population, don't you think? But that we aren't even told? Unimaginable.
  
• GMO foods, a relatively new phenomenon, are completely infiltrating our environment. Maybe they're good, maybe not, but again, I'd like the choice. Do YOU know which foods at the grocery store are GMO? No, of course not, because again, the FDA decided you don't really need to know. Even if you're buying organic, as we do, you may get GMO foods, because, ya know, the wind blows sometimes.

I fear that these more immediate concerns will kill the human race LONG before global warming, and yet, for years, these were all on the back burner.

Maybe it's time environmentalists reevaluate their priorities, and instead of clinging to the global warming "science" and losing credibility every day, we could use this as an opportunity to reinvigorate the fight for healthy veggies, fish and meat, more environmentally-friendly farming and fishing practices, forcing businesses in environmentally-UNfriendly situations to green-up a little, and dealing with issues that are threatening THIS generation.