Today is Blog Action Day 2009, and I have been a little late with my entry for this year. That’s okay, because I revived my 2007 article (on 10 Simple Ways To Save Money and the Environment) as a featured post and hopefully, it shared in the spirit of what this day is all about. As I recall, Blog Action Day’s theme in 2007 was about the environment, which has a lot of bearing on this year’s theme, which is on climate change.
I want to say a few words about this year’s focus — climate change. It’s a topic that’s highly apropos, and which has been receiving great attention lately. I can’t remember another year when I thought about this more, and here’s why. I’ve got family and friends in South East Asia who’ve seen more than their share of weather-based disasters recently. Nature has been particularly rough on the Pacific region lately, hitting tropical countries with a vengeance.
I described their plight in my article discussing how an emergency plan may not necessarily help out when we’re hit by a once-in-a-blue-moon catastrophe. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but these unusual typhoons and hurricanes we’re seeing in recent years, which are described to have rare magnitude and strength, seem to be happening more frequently of late. Could these all be caused by climate change?
Image from advocacy.britannica.com
Regardless of what causes the crazy weather we’ve been seeing — El Nino, climate change, ordinary pattern shifts — the aftermath has been tough. My family and friends living in Asia have been impacted directly by it, pretty much in the same way that people in the Gulf coast here in the U.S. have been affected by the huge calamity that was Hurricane Katrina. When we talk about preparing for emergencies, our priorities should really be focused on large scale preparedness, such as improving infrastructure and community systems that can prevent the severe devastation of a community. And much of this sort of thing is rooted in people’s awareness of their environment, in a long term vision for community and care about what happens around us.
So how well is the world listening to Mother Nature’s sobering wake up calls?
Other News: It’s Our Birthday
I’m going to change the subject here and share with you other, more sanguine news: The Digerati Life turned THREE today. Woot! I’ve dug up its birth announcement from exactly 3 years ago. Can’t believe we (e.g. you, me and the blog) have lasted this long together. To be honest, I can’t believe all this time has flown past, since it sure doesn’t feel like it. And the cool thing? We’re still having fun, right? 🙂 Thanks so much to all the readers, visitors and subscribers of this blog for allowing this to be such a wonderful ride. We owe our longevity to all of you!
Copyright © 2009 The Digerati Life. All Rights Reserved.
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Coincidentally, I have just watched the movie, The 11th Hour. I have researched some global warming tips for Blog Action Day.
Thanks for the discussion, SVB.
Pinoy Tech,
Please register your blog over at the Blog Action Day site! Then you can be officially listed as a participant of this event. I’ll try to visit other Blog Action Day sites as well.
I have. I will be going around too and I think there will be a great response to this important day.
It should be interesting to read the blogs that write about environmental matters; a lot of the larger blogs are participating as well. No doubt that it will have some type of impact.
We are mostly observers of the climate change, not much we can do about it.
Congratulations on the third birthday!
It’s been getting slightly cooler overall since 1998, this year especially, and fewer hurricanes than normal. But Asia has taken some hits. The climate is always changing, and that is natural if you think of the world as a living organism. The raised consciousness around low-impact energy production is good as long as it can be done cost-effectively, and technological innovations hold a lot of promise to fundamentally transform energy consumption.
Kudos to you for participating in blog action day.
I decided to write a belated post of my own about an environmental issue that might strike a cord with some of your readers: It’s about Brazilian teak hardwood floors, slave labor, and the destruction of the rain forest.
Keep up your good work.
Thank you!
Climate change is really an issue that needs to be treated. We all have to understand why this happens. Let’s all take action and try to resolve it.
By the way, congrats on your third birthday. I would be celebrating my first birthday this November 25.
I like the initiative for a ‘blog action day’, but to be perfectly honest, does something like this ever really solve its purpose?
I mean, will it actually cause any change? Writing a blog post is an easy way to tell yourself that you’re making a difference, but you aren’t, really.
Still, kudos to the effort and Digerati’s contribution.
Congratulations on the third birthday!
@Diana,
Knowing that there’s a problem, and being aware of it, is the first step to change. So I think it does make a difference when bloggers open the conversation channels on any matter.
@All,
Thanks for the wishes (on my anniversary). 🙂
Congrats on your third birthday. Our 3rd is right around the corner as well.
Glad you spent some time discussing climate change. Recently most people have been more bothered about the economy.
I have only just heard about Blog Action Day, and I’m sorry I missed it, as I own a number of blogs and would have loved to have supported this important cause. How I do I find out about the next one?
ps – congrats on three years.