I am an ostrich by nature. Most of my life I have spent sticking my head in the sand and deliberately ignoring the doom and gloom warnings that surround me.
Global warming is no new topic. As a seventeen year old freshman, attending Cal Poly in 1966 I was first enlightened to the dangers of fossil fuels and their probable impact on the climate. I took the warnings with a grain of salt but as a precaution, bought a fuel efficient import and produced only one offspring. Later studies revealed that my behavior and reaction or lack there of was based on another facet of my personality.
I am a Polly Anna by nature too. I have always had faith that the human race would continue their study of the sciences and find new technological solutions to the problems of pollution and global warming: alternative fuels, more efficient vehicles, etc.
So why change now?
Oddly enough, the changing economy has been one of the factors that motivated my change of heart or mind. As my retirement coincided with the major economic upheaval in the world, I have been inspired to pursue a new career to fill both my golden years and my dwindling bank account. Having spent 20 years working in a computer based field I am venturing into a new venue of internet marketing. This has been challenging in more than one way. First, technology continues to evolve as a break neck speed and it isn’t all that easy for my senior brain to keep up.
Second and even more important is the fact that I can’t market just anything. In order to represent a product I must have faith that it will be worth the price paid and not add to the woeful state of the world. So in order to market a product related to global warming I feel the need to brush up my research skills and come up with my take on the relevant issues at hand: global warming, carbon offsets, calculating carbon footprints, etc.
So stay tuned for future episodes in the re-education of a Senior GISP.
Note: Today I came across an incredible site by Anup Shah on global issues aptly entitled GlobalIssues.org. My initial reaction to his site was why am I bothering to write this article? I thought Shah has been publishing his site for over ten years and has said it all. However, reading further I discovered that Shah’s site encompasses a much wider spectrum of global issues than this blog will touch upon so I will continue my efforts. One line on his About page inspired me to continue. In answer to the question “What are my qualifications?” he responded “you don’t need to have qualifications to be concerned and want to do something, although you do need the time to sift through a lot of information to understand what is happening!”
Time I have and I find the concern is growing, so bear with me as I seek to understand these issues and share them with you.