Vote for Earth!

This week being election week, I thought it appropriate to blog about an issue that is oddly divided among party lines: Global Warming.  Living in the outskirts of Washington, DC, it is hard not to be involved somewhat in politics.  Almost everyone has issues that they adamantly believe in and mine, obviously, is the environment.  According to this USA Today article, more Democrats believe in climate change than Republicans.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/10/global-warming-partisan-divide/1
Shockingly, though, I never thought that this was a political issue since we all live on the same planet.  We'd all benefit from making changes even if we're not around to see all of the changes come to full fruition.

Since the first Earth Day back in 1970, there have been major changes made to how we deal with the environment.  From the Clean Air Act, to the Clean Water Act, to getting emissions checked on your car, all of these things are done to make our world a better place.  Cleaner air and water, what's not to like about that?

But now to think about global warming and whether or not it's a valid thing according to which scientist you believe, it gets a little trickier.  Republicans, for the most part, believe it isn't real or it isn't man-made and that the earth goes through cyclical changes in climate.  Democrats believe that it IS man-made and that cutting CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), coal power plant emissions, and other greenhouse gases could actually help reduce what causes global warming.

Either way, everyone on this earth benefits if we make a few simple changes.  There's no arguing that we're running out of landfill space, putting all kinds of toxic chemicals into our ecosystems which eventually end up in our bodies, as well as so many other environmental issues, but global warming/climate change is the mostly argued theory in recent history.

Despite what the USA Today article suggests, however, there is a Republican-based group, REP (Republicans for Environmental Protection: http://www.rep.org/) that advocates environmental issues.  Recently, I heard someone joke that NPR was trying not to be seen as a liberal station even though their giveaway was an organic reusable cloth bag at their recent fundraising drive.  Why does the environment have to be a liberal issue?  Isn't it a human issue?

So hopefully, regardless of your political party preference, I hope that this blog can give you ideas on how to make this planet a little more pleasant to live on for now and future generations.  And you can vote on a greener lifestyle.  :)