I have seen TV programs on global warming, and didn’t give it much thought as I thought the closest global warming had affected my world, was the lack of ice in the arctic for the polar bears.

To my surprise global warming is in my backyard, as we endured up to 45 degree C temperatures in the BC Interior.

I have never lived through temperatures this hot. This heat wave is a new record for BC. I think these temperatures are new territory for most everyone.

Town of Lytton Burned

About a hundred miles away is the Town of Lytton, within a few days of the heat wave starting, a fire started and burned down the town entirely. About a thousand residents have been displaced, and their lives have been thrown into upheaval with the destruction of their homes.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-lytton-july-1-2021-1.6087311

Global Warming In My Backyard

Global warming is now in my backyard. I had just finished planting a couple dozen seedling trees in my yard, last month. A lot of work digging the holes. The planting of the seedlings was the easy part.

Seedlings In 40 + Degree Temps !

How do you think seedling pines will do in 40 to 45 degree heat ? I knew I needed to watch them closely. and ended up watering them most days.

I had put mulch around the base of each plant, to preserve the moisture in the soil.   But the sun still managed to kill a handful of these pine seedlings.

What Can I Do About Global Warming ?

With global warming in my backyard, what do I do now ?

10 Ways To Stop Global Warming

https://www.northwestern.edu/fm/fm-staff/10-ways-to-stop-global-warming.html

This short concise article gave some great examples of what we can do, and what the carbon savings are. I thought it was so good, I have copied the article below.

***

Change a light – Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Drive less – Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive! ( No wonder electric cars are becoming so popular. )

Recycle more – You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

Check your tires – Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve your gas mileage by more than 3 percent. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Use less hot water – It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by taking shorter and cooler showers and washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water (more than 500 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year).

Avoid products with a lot of packagingYou can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you reduce your garbage by 10 percent.

Adjust your thermostat – Moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Plant a tree – A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Turn off electronic devices – Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer, when you’re not using them, will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

****

7 Out of 10

Checking the list above, against what we do in our household, I find we are doing 7 out of 10 of the examples above.

Global warming seems to be the price we have to pay for living in a modern society with many conveniences.

Maybe you can help the planet too, by incorporating some of these carbon dioxide reduction actions into your home and life.