Do One Thing to help your environment

Today at Berkeley Rotary, we had a speaker from the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) who shared information about climate change and why it's important for individuals to be aware of our changing environment. ACE is a national organization that was founded in Oakland and dedicated to educating people about climate change.

Statistics show that 90% of scientists believe that climate change is caused by people while 46% of the general public disagree. In fact, polls reveal that climate change is very low on the list of the general public's priorities. People are mostly worried about terrorism, the economy, and jobs. Climate change is at the bottom of the list. The urgency of climate change is very apparent with the drought in California. Climate change impacts all of us living on this planet.

Young people have the most to lose when it comes to climate change and the most to gain by taking action. This is where ACE has found an opportunity to make a difference by connecting with the youth. ACE has educated over 1.9 million students across America. In the bay area alone, over 120,000 students in 124 schools have gone through training sessions about climate change and what individuals can do to help with climate change. The Mayor of San Francisco was the first mayor of any city in United States to embrace climate education for all students. His alliance sends regular text messages - through a campaign called DOT (do one thing) - encouraging students with each text to do one thing to help with climate change.

Here are some of the suggestions of what we can all do to help with climate change:

• Eat locally, buy locally
• Drive less - use public transportation, bicycles, and carpool if possible
• Stop waste - recycle your clothing, upcycle old furniture with a coat of paint or new upholstery 
• Minimize water usage - shorter showers, use less hot water, and switch to low flow
• Wear a sweater instead of turn the heat on and keep doors closed when running AC

So I am asking you a question – what one thing are you willing to do today to help the environment?

What I did today is put a lovely long lasting succulent plant (in place of cut flowers) on my desk which is a beautiful, natural decoration that requires almost no water.