What's Up With The Climate

  I am by no means an expert in this, but I was asked me to write something, so here goes ... We have 20 solar panels on our roof. Some people put them in their yard, or even buy into a community solar array, but ours just sit on our roof. We installed our panels in 2018. It’s been fun because we can access this great website on the computer or an app on the phone that tells us how much power we’re making every hour/day/week/month/year. Honestly, it can be a little addictive trying to predict how much power we make over time! Since the panels were installed, the website says we have reduced our carbon footprint by 18.2 tons, which is equivalent to planting 304 trees. I guess that’s pretty good.  We’ve learned that the solar panels don’t work under any amount of snow, so we have to clean them off (we can because our roof is not very steep). So, we not only shovel the driveway, we also clean off our panels – Ugh! But this happens only if the snow doesn’t melt by itself. Al...

' The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average carbon footprint is closer to 4 tons. ´ reported by the Nature Conservancy. As Sandy said,  Earth Day is a chance to renew your resolve to be involved in making and keeping our planet sustainable for our lives and future generations. How do we lessen our carbon footprint on Mother Earth?  Any change starts by acknowledging the current situation and, from there, determining best ways to move forward – in big ways like how we heat our homes to little ways turning off lights when we leave rooms.  There are numerous on-line tools to determine your current footprints.     Carbon Footprint  from The Nature Conservancy is one.    Cool Congregations  is another option.    One common critique in asking for individuals to make life-style changes to lessen our footprint, is the question ‘ Can one p...