Copious Carbon

“It is thus that our entire civilization has no respect for plants or for animals, other than pets – the flattering dog, the wily cat, the obedient horse, and the mimicking parrot. It is high time to go back, or on, to animism and to cultivate good manners toward all sentient beings, including vegetables, and even lakes and mountains.”-Alan watts

        From your exhale to eggshells, every living cell on this beautiful blue ball contains carbon. In fact, you're body is 20% carbon. Carbon is somewhat hard to track because it’s invisible in half the ways we see it. Carbon is our friend. It's the form it takes shape that causes problems. Rightfully earning spot 6 on the periodic table; it's the fourth most abundant molecule in the universe. Mixed with two oxygen atoms; you get Carbon Dioxide. Earth’s criminal culprit in the fight against climate change. Every single plant on earth rips the carbon out of CO2 to photosynthesize; taking up about 25% of our yearly emissions. Another 10% is taken out by our oceans. So where does that leave us; in the last 2 lifetimes (150 years), we have outdone ourselves and completely decimated our records. We’ve gone double time and have been releasing over 2 years worth in 1 year, racking up a 65% yearly surplus. Our Earth is dying right before our eyes. The sea-level is rising, Oceans are being overfished. California’s wildfires are caused by climate change. CO2 starves our oceans of their oxygen in a process called Eutrophication threatening not only our livelihoods but the lives of all marine life. It's a sorry game with no winners in that feedback loop. And we will continue to see virtuous malignant weather until Climate Change is mainstream. Science says temperatures will continue to rise with or without us. We’re verging towards a climate crisis! Good news though, it’s going to get better with time and hope. You have a lot more power than you give yourself credit for. Some good ways to lessen your carbon footprint include turning off the lights when you leave a room, take a walk where you would've drove, or even just not wasting food. Buy from thrift stores, bring your own reusable bag when you shop, and start composting. Next blog post will be about my journey on starting to compost. Personally I’ve been going around the streets at night picking up trash. It brings me joy to gash the grot. Clean-ups will start in January and blog-posts will be coming out bi-weekly. Thanks for reading and stay healthy, happy, and wash your hands!