Hi! It’s been a while. I have lots of things swirling in my head to write about. But life has been happening at an alarming pace! One of the things I wanted to share was hope. Staying educated can be painful. There’s always bad news stories out there. But I remember as a child watching a TV news channel that specifically shared a ‘good news’ story every night. I always liked that. It’s good to know there is always a good guy out there.
In the midst of bad news there is usually some good to be found. And in good news stories you can always find negatives. Our current situation in Ontario, Canada is one of those. Our cost of electricity is out of control, and a recent government “save” is just moving the burden on to the next generation. So, the save feels good, but the reality is not. On the other hand one of the reasons our costs are out of control is that the government is moving us towards renewable energy. As government policies usually go, they screwed up. They offered ridiculous payouts for people to install solar panels at four or more times the rate of current hydro. (Who did they think was going to pay for that??) And… here’s a bounce back in the other direction again… the result is people are still continuing the move towards solar without the incentive. And so swings the pendulum. As long as we keep moving in the right direction that’s progress for me.
So today, in the midst of my crazy schedule I’m going to share a good news story courtesy of WWF. It’s hard for me to believe some people don’t ‘believe’ in climate change. But they say the same is true of faith, or even network marketing. You are a skeptic until some fact grabs you and then the light goes on. One of my big dreams is to work on ocean cleanup projects – maybe even fund one some day. I’ve been given this great opportunity to change my income and my life through my business. There aren’t too many careers where you can dream that big. I gather lots of information and post some of it here. But I keep a lot of it on my mind and close to my heart that fueled me to start writing, keep trying, always hoping.
There are lots of Facebook groups and newsletters you can sign up for to stay informed. It could take me days to read what I receive in just one day in my news feed. Lots of it is discouraging, but there is more and more hope as well. WWF does work in areas of climate, water, food, forests, and wild life. You can click here for the full article and to visit their page. But here is the summary for a little positivity and happiness this morning.
1. Nearly 200 countries adopted a landmark global plan to curb climate change in the years to come, known as the Paris Agreement. Now countries must come back to the table every five years to stay on track.
2. In the US, more than 1,000 businesses, 250 college and university presidents and 75 Mayors back climate action. These leaders are calling on Washington to support the Paris Agreement and accelerate low-carbon policies.
3. Half of America’s Fortune 500 companies have a goal to cut climate pollution. Their efforts are equivalent of taking over 40 coal fired power plants offline for a year.
4. 65 American companies pledge to power their operations with renewable energy—the equivalent of powering 4.8 million American homes with the same. These businesses are calling for greater access to renewable energy across America to power their businesses, and are encouraging other companies to follow their lead.
5. More than 60 US cities have set targets exceeding current US emissions reduction target. Cities’ emissions reductions are a critical piece of the US ability to deliver strong action on climate change, and they are necessary to America’s energy security and economic prosperity.
6. 187 countries and territories, 3000+ landmarks and millions of people turned off their lights for Earth Hour 2017, the world’s largest global movement on climate action.
7. More than 3.3 million Americans are employed in the clean energy economy. That’s more American jobs than all an all US jobs in traditional fossil fuels combined.
8. You! People like you who care about climate change are standing together and taking action. On April 29, 2017, hundreds of thousands of people will march in Washington, DC, and other cities worldwide to show that they want to create a clean energy future and protect our planet.
And there is more. Stories of communities opening organic gardens, countries banning plastics, new inventions created from necessity. I’ll be sharing more on this so stay tuned. There is some pretty exciting stuff!
Here’s a happy video that was posted by another great site I follow called Upworthy. This was posted earlier in 2017 beautifully portraying more of this inspiration.
https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1643443259029859/
It’s good to know there are still good people out there.