Anyone see the news lately? Houston has been flooded in a historic deluge of rain – again. According to BBC News, a Houston flood official said waters recorded in one area were 40 feet higher than the previous record. Just days after Texas experienced dangerously destructive, record-breaking, baseball-sized hail accompanied by 70 mph winds. Why? Earth’s thermostat (a.k.a. the Jet Stream) has slowed down, which stalls weather patterns and creates havoc. Why? Because our world is warmer due to heat-trapping greenhouse gasses that we constantly spew into our atmosphere. That heat melts the Arctic ice which destabilizes the jet stream. And, because warmer weather holds more water vapor – which energizes storms, the effects are magnified. Time to wake up!

The magnitude of global warming (a.k.a. Climate Change/the Greenhouse Effect), and the speed at which it is intensifying, is much greater than most people realize.

These deleterious effects have been readily observable for decades, right in front of our eyes, yet often we have shunned awareness.  Our business-as-usual environmental policies and practices of unlimited extraction from nature, continue to degrade our air, water, soil, food, oceans, forests, health, weather patterns, infrastructure, biodiversity and our national security.

There is a great deal that we as individuals, communities and nations, can and must do to encourage a rapid shift to clean energy and foster positive change. It is essential that each of us become stewards of our own existence, of humanity and of our planet, to become citizen activists and create a safer, more just, sustainable and livable world for all.

Eve Simmons, a.k.a. TheGreenFlash.org