S for 'Save the World'

The other day, a friend of mine who is an avid trekker, a nature enthusiast, and a keen wildlife photographer was telling me about the time he hiked to the top of a mountain, and camped out for the night, just so he could witness the sunrise from what he described as the Top of the World. I was trying to visualise the sun pushing its way through a thick carpet of clouds, when he said, "Nature has given me more joy than anything else. I can't imagine what I would have missed out on if my uncle hadn't tackled my fear when I was in my teens."
"Why, what happened?", the writer and people watcher in me piped up.
"When I was very young", he told me. "I was scared of the Wild. I never went anywhere near Nature because I was worried about the unknown dangers that lurked there. When I told my uncle my fears, he said 'Why should you be afraid of the Wild? The wild should be afraid of you.' It took me a few weeks before I understood what he meant, but after that, Nature became my best friend."

Whether we clear forests to make land for cultivation, or kill tigers because we think they make good aphrodisiacs, or drive a monster car to a place we could easily walk to, we are the ones who harm Nature. In a few decades, we have succeeded in undoing the balance that took Millennia to create. And we have only ourselves to blame if our winters are too cold, our summers too hot, and our rains not enough to meet our need for water.

On Earth Day, let us take a couple of minutes to think about something I first came across when I was in my teens and haven't forgotten since, "Remember, we did not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our children."


And did you know that a blog leaves a carbon footprint too?

These details are taken from the 'My Blog is Carbon Neutral" site.

How much carbon dioxide does your blog create?
According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems.

As demonstrated in the above calculation, the atmosphere can be relieved by an average of 5kg (11lb.) carbon dioxide every year by planting one tree. An average blog causes 3.6kg (8lb.) of carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, a tree neutralises the carbon dioxide emissions of a blog. Since a tree lives for an average of 50 years, carbon dioxide emissions of your blog can be completely neutralised for this time period.

Here’s how you can help
Just write a short blog post about the programme “My blog is carbon neutral” and include a buttons on your site (ideally in the sidebar). Send the link of your blog to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de and they plant a tree for you, neutralising the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog. The trees will be planted in the spring of 2010 by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Happy Earth Day!
Help Save the World!