So you know that DearSweetDave is a web designer, right? Or maybe you didn't know that, exactly, but I suppose you do now because I just told you. He designs web sites. He is responsible for my Dreamsweet website. I'm so thankful that I'm actually married to that man because, well, if I wasn't I don't want to think what pain and suffering and agony I would have gone through to get my website created. And when I want changes made to my website? I just have to say, "DearSweetDave, I need to make changes to my website!" And then he says to write what I want to have done in an email and shoot it off to him and he'll do it.
The rest of the world should work this way. We should just say, "World, I need you to do the laundry!" and then send an email and it is done. Or "World, I need you to recycle more and drive very fuel efficient automobiles!" and shoot an email to some big email server in the sky (or perhaps at HP or Sun Microsystems or whomever handles email reallyreallyreally well) and then voila, it's just done.
Simple.
Of course I'm sure there would be all kinds of conflicting emails. Some people would be writing to reduce greenhouse gases while others would be writing to put more Hummers on the road and others would be writing to build bigger bombs and others would be writing to get rid of guns and bombs all together. The email server might get very confused and just implode from all the conflicting requests. Or it could be set, like my email server, to just ignore some requests. Ah...but which requests to ignore? Because, honestly, aren't all of our requests valid?
Perhaps not so simple.
But what is simple is that DearSweetDave does design web sites. And he designed a quick one for a tattoo artist named Shannon Archuleta. It's a placeholder web site, really, until we can actually meet with her and design her something very kick-ass. But the coolest part about this particular job is that DearSweetDave is doing it in exchange for a tattoo! For me!
You see for a veryveryvery long while I have wanted to get a tattoo of a beet on my back. Actually, it was going to be a fairy in a yoga pose holding a beet in her hands. But then I thought about it more and decided that I don't want "another" fairy tattooed on me. Not that I already have a fairy tattoo, because I certainly do not. I mean that I am a fairy. So why would I have another fairy tattooed on to me? It feels odd. So instead, I'm just getting the beet. A big bold brash beet.
Before you decide that I need more iron in my diet, let me ask you if you've ever read the book Jitterbug Perfume? If you haven't, please go and read it now. Go on. I'll wait. I've loads of time these days. It is perhaps my most favorite book of all time. I own a signed first edition. I also have had Tom Robbins sign other books of his for me with references to beets. Oh, but you're still reading aren't you? It's okay. I know if you've gotten through the first few pages you're already beginning to understand about the beets.
Once you finish the book, you'll be wanting a beet tattoo of your own. Call up Shannon. She can become the beet tattoo artist of North Beach. A new beet generation will begin. We can all email about wanting more beets in our salad. Or something like that.
And while we're all emailing about greenhouse gases and recycling and reducing CO2, let me also encourage every single one of you who reads this blog to go and see An Inconvenient Truth. It is very important that you all see this film. Especially those of you who think you've got this whole global warming issue all figured out. If you're a scientist who is working on the problem, you might get a hall pass and get to skip the movie, but the rest of you? Attendance is mandatory and required. I am tempted to purchase a gazillion copies of this film and just start offering it here free for anyone who would like one.
It's that important. Or perhaps I can just follow in the foot steps of my friend Rico and the Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In folks and start showing this film on the sides of buildings all over America. Honestly, people need to see this film. This is not propaganda. This is just hard scientific data about our planet.
Here's just a bit of science from the movie's web site:
Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is a good thing because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising.
The vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is real, it’s already happening and that it is the result of our activities and not a natural occurrence. The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.
We’re already seeing changes. Glaciers are melting, plants and animals are being forced from their habitat, and the number of severe storms and droughts is increasing.
The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years. Malaria has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Colombian Andes, 7,000 feet above sea level. The flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. At least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles. If the warming continues, we can expect catastrophic consequences.
Deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years -- to 300,000 people a year. Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and
Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense. Droughts and wildfires will occur more often. The Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050. More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050.
There is no doubt we can solve this problem. In fact, we have a moral obligation to do so. Small changes to your daily routine can add up to big differences in helping to stop global warming. The time to come together to solve this problem is now – TAKE ACTION
Folks we're not doing a very good job, at this moment in time, of taking care of our planet. But we can. And we most certainly should. Think of your children. And your grandchildren. And their grandchildren. This planet is not just ours for the taking.
It is important to rescue the frog. It is important to rescue ourselves. It is far too important to ignore.
