These people make me excited to get up in the morning!

This past weekend, a group of amazing people representing over 35 youth-based organizations all over Canada got together in Toronto & formed a Canadian Youth Climate Coalition.

Now I don't know about you all, but I personally can't even read the above sentence without feeling all warmy and fuzzy inside. Scratch that- it actually makes me feel all warm and activisty inside, like I physically can't sit still in my chair because I need to be out doing something- anything- to make the world a better place.

I'm really excited about the energy and momentum behind this movement and in my boundless energy & enthusiasm, I'd like to share with you a few things about you, me & climate change.

First of all, if you wanna know more about this fantastic Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, here's a link to an article about the conference last weekend and here's the declaration itself.

Now, I was originally planning to share a scary article about how arctic ice is melting much more quickly than anyone expected, along with an equally scary article about environmental refugees in Bangladesh who are forced out of their homes because of climate-change related flooding, but then I thought hey- it's Friday, so let's be a little more upbeat, shall we?

So, in the warm and activisty spirit of this post, here I present to you:


10 things you (yes you!) can do today to help stop climate change.

1. Drive less. Even one day a week less. C'mon- do you really need to take the car to the video store? Wouldn't you feel good if you got on your bike once a week to go to work?

2. Make smart food choices. This means buy local and eat less meat. Bonus points if you can eat organic. (I swear this isn't vegetarian propaganda- meat is really energy-consuming, especially beef, and locally grown food consumes way less fossil fuels because it's not tranported across the world.)

3. Switch your lightbulbs to compact flourescents. They save tons of energy & will last forever, so you save money too.

4. Write your local MP and tell them how important it is for Canada to meet its Kyoto commitments. If you're American, this applies too! Canadians, you can find the name and address of your local MP here.

5. Turn off your car if you are idling for more than 10 seconds. That's right Ashley Rose- I said 10 seconds : )

6. Reduce your home heating & cooling. Set your thermostat one degree lower in the winter & two degrees higher in the summer.

7. Bring your own bags to the grocery store. At the very least, for the love of god, please don't let them double bag!

8. Buy a reusable coffee mug for your daily Starbucks/ Second Cup/ Cuppa Joe fix.

9. Avoid air travel whenever possible. Take the train if you can (it's fun!)

10. Buy carbon offsets for your energy consumption. These are essentially investments that you make in renewable energy to offset the impacts of your fossil fuel consumption. The David Suzuki website has a great list of places where you can buy carbon offsets.


See- not so bad, right? It's like the Letterman top 10 list, except without the kicky punchlines. And these are totally things that you can do. Come on- try one today. You'll feel great. You can even brag about it. The polar bears will thank you.

All right, I'm off to change the world!

Love,
Liz