Seventy People Take the Pledge

"We have lived with the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world is good for us. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe." Natural Capitalism (Lovins et al.)

The first signs of global warming are making their predicted appearance, with the melting of glaciers and polar ice. At the same time, the age of the flowering diversity of life is coming to an end: by 2050, nearly half of the Earth's species may be extinct. As Americans we contribute to these problems, unwittingly but massively, by the choices we make, by the very fabric of our lives.

Those in political power in our country today have abdicated leadership regarding these environmental crises. The void at the national level presents us with a unique opportunity--and the necessity--to come together as individuals and communities, and act.

At times we feel immobilized by guilt, despair, and denial. But the wisdom of our hearts tells us to act, in whatever ways we can, and as we do, better choices become easy.

These are the issues that stimulated us, one year ago, to form Heart of the Earth, a nonprofit organization committed to environmental stewardship in the Red Hills and Gulf Coastal Lowlands bioregions. The work of Heart of the Earth is focused on two major crises of our time: global warming, and a weak sense of connection to place-and therefore effective stewardship--on the part of the people who live here.

We offer effective, science-based, acheivable solutions to these problems through our web site, our workshops and this newsletter. Our work is at once spiritual, practical, and scientific.

We, the council members and, now, the 70 people who have joined us during our first year, are heartened in each others' company. If you are new to Heart of the Earth, we hope this expanded issue of our newsletter will inspire you to join us. We have pledged to do our part for the earth, for our children, for the future generations of all species, waiting their turn to live on our beautiful garden planet. Won't you join us?

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Sidebar to Lead Article

Global changes are hard for us to detect, but we can and do experience the constancy and the turning of the earth's seasons in our daily rounds. As we approach the equinox, September 21, we feel the sun cooling. Breezes refresh us, and the vibrant green of summer yields to golds and russets of fall. These miracles we can see and feel. On the equinox, night and day are balanced, equal in length. As the writer Alice Walker says, as long as the earth makes a new spring each year (or a new fall), how can we allow ourselves to fall into hopelessness?

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The deep ocean floor is often a cold, dark place, barren of life. But from time to time, a rich bounty such as a dead whale carcass will drift down from the surface.

Then sea life explodes: all manner of worms and other invertebrates arrive to colonize the dead organic matter and their populations increase dramatically--for a short time. Inevitably, the whale is consumed and the colonizing populations dwindle and inevitably collapse.

In a similar fashion, humans now live upon a temporary bounty of dead organic matter. We've found our "whale carcass" below ground, in the form of oil, gas and coal--the fossil remains of plants that lived long ago.

Fossil energy has fueled the industrial age, enabling our human population to explode. The product of our industrial respiration, carbon dioxide (CO2), has increased in the earth's atmosphere and now threatens to spoil our nest.

The earth's atmosphere controls the earth's heat balance. Prior to the advent of the industrial age, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was about 280 ppm (parts per million). In the early 1800s, we began mining and burning oil, gas and coal: today the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is over 360 ppm (Figure 1). That's an increase of about 30% in less than 300 years. For the earth, this is an unprecedented rate of change--about 10,000 years worth compressed into a single century. Right now, CO2 is higher than at anytime in human history and its concentration is predicted to double in the next century.

Not coincidentally, temperature records indicate that a one degree (F) rise in temperature has occurred over the last century (Figure 2). The 10 warmest years of the century have occurred since 1983, and the seven warmest years of the century have been recorded since 1990. Mathematical models predict a 2-6 degree rise in temperature by the year 2100. Temperature changes will be greatest near the poles, which may cause melting of the ice caps and rises in sea level.

In Figure 3, you can see that temperature and CO2 concentration are intimately linked. Over the past 150,000 years, when temperature has been high, in interglacial periods, CO2 has been high. When temperature has been low, during glacial periods, CO2 has been low. The disturbing thing is, that if we don't act to reduce fossil fuel emissions, by the year 2100, the concentration of CO2 is projected to be 700 ppm, double what it is today. What will the earth's temperature be like then?

There is a delicate balance between sunlight, CO2 concentration and heat which we must be careful not to perturb. Carbon dioxide is critical to controlling the earth's heat balance because it absorbs infrared radiation (IR), which is basically heat. The atmosphere is transparent to the visible radiation of the sun. Coming to earth from the sun, visible radiation passes through the clear atmosphere and hits the earth. A portion of it is absorbed and re-radiated back to space as IR. Carbon dioxide traps this IR and reflects it back to the earth's surface, causing further warming.

This is called the greenhouse effect. Without it, water would freeze on earth. But with too much greenhouse effect, water would boil off the surface of earth, leaving it a desert. This may have been what happened to neighboring Venus. To illustrate the greenhouse effect, consider a car with the windows rolled up. The sun's rays pass through the car's windows (visible light), and hit the car's seats. There the visible light is absorbed, and re-radiated to the interior of the car as IR. But the car's glass windows, while transparent to visible light, are opaque to IR, so the heat is trapped within the car, and the car's interior temperature rises and becomes unbearable.

Why is this significant? In addition to sea level change, climatic change will increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather and make it difficult to grow food and provide clean potable water for the massive population of humans now on earth--over six billion of us.

Dr. Jeff Chanton is a wetlands scientist in FSU's Department of Oceanography. Figure Captions.

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Presbyterians, Unitarian-Universalists, Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, Jews, Buddhists, Historic Black Churches, Friends and Episcopalians and many others are leading efforts to inform their members about the effects of global climate change--and how they can respond.

In May 2001, thirty different faith groups from 39 states attended a conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Council of Churches entitled "On Earth As It is in Heaven: Witnessing to God's Healing of Creation". The central message was that each of us can help reduce global climate change by using less energy.

For more information about this conference, and the campaign by the National Council of Churches in 18 states to educate people of faith about global climate change, check www.webofcreation.org, or contact Fred Morris at fced@aol.com.

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Unitarian-Universalist Church of Tallahassee (UUCT) Initiates Green Sanctuary Program

Heart of the Earth was instrumental in the initiation of a Green Sanctuary Program at UUCT by offering its inspiring presentation to the congregation this spring. The Green Sanctuary Program is an offshoot of the Unitarian Univeralists' seventh principle, "Respect for the interdependent web of life of which we are a part."

The goal of the program is to inspire environmental action on personal, congregational, and community levels. If your congregation would like a presentation, please contact Heart of the Earth at 216-8400.

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Heart of the Earth asks each of us to join in cooling the Earth by making and keeping a pledge to reduce our fossil fuel use by 30 percent over the next three years, the equivalent of adopting in our own lives the international agreement forged at Kyoto four years ago.

In practical terms, the amount we waste and the options for increasing our energy efficiency make the process amazingly easy. Step-by-step, with a long-term perspective, those of us who have taken the pledge find our energy use shrinking and our savings accounts growing. We can and are taking action to reverse the damage we have done to our planet, and we relish the knowledge that we are acting in more loving ways towards the Earth.

We'd like to share a few of our stories in the hopes you will be inspired to join us and take action in your own life.

Start Small and Invest the Savings for the Earth
LucyAnn Walker-Fraser and Barry Fraser

Transportation: 5.9 tons of CO2 emissions avoided annually
Reduction in use of fossil fuel for transportation: 41%
Household: 2.9 tons of CO2 emissions avoided annually
Total reduction in fossil fuel use: 28%
Annual savings: $1,039

In the intense heat and drought of the summer of 2000, while wildfires blazed around the nation, Barry and I joined with five others in founding Heart of the Earth. We made a long-term commitment to reduce our fossil fuel use by 30 percent.

We resolved to invest small amounts of time and effort in increasing our energy efficiency, and to reinvest the savings in making further reductions. Carpooling one or two days a week from our home in Killearn Lakes to our state government jobs on the other side of town quickly became a comfortable, almost everyday way of life.

In addition to the increased leisure, the good feelings and the savings in gasoline, carpooling allowed us to avoid buying a third car when our daughter turned sixteen. She has the use of our second car, with our encouragement to carpool to school so she'll have a ride on the rare days when we need both cars.

When our Ford Escort bit the dust, we bought the most efficient car we could afford, a Toyota Echo. At 34 miles per gallon, our gas savings enabled us to exceed our pledge with a 41 percent reduction in our gasoline use.

On the household front, we installed an additional water saver showerhead for our daughter, lowered the hot water temperature by 10 degrees, and replaced some lamps and fixtures to gradually install compact fluorescent light bulbs for most of the lights in the house.

I discovered the joys of my backyard (and fresh, wrinkle-free laundry) and now use our clothes dryer use for only one load per week instead of three or four. We also use our gas grill more (it even works for pizza!) and our oven less, and recently purchased a large toaster oven conveniently located in the garage, where the heat doesn't tax our air conditioning in summer.

As the savings mounted, we consulted Steven Service, a licensed Energy Star auditor, to determine our next best investment for energy efficiency. The answer: replace our poorly-functioning sixteen year old heat pump with a new one that will cut our heating and cooling bills by half.

A big commitment to reduce a big impact
Ed Oaksford

Reduction in household energy use: 3.8 tons of CO2 emissions avoided annually Total reduction in fossil fuel use for electricity, fuel oil, and natural gas: 20% (based on three months in Heart of the Earth)

Ed Oaksford signed the Heart of the Earth pledge at the kick-off for the Green Sanctuary program for the Unitarian-Universalist church in April 2001. Ed's four-person household lives in a 2,400 square foot home with a pool in Betton Hills, and produces an estimated 18.6 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Ed and his family immediately plunged into reducing it.

In three months, the Oaksfords achieved a 20 percent reduction in their total household fossil fuel use, encompassing electricity, fuel oil, and natural gas. "I haven't done anything except be careful about what I waste," Ed says. The whole family became more conscious of turning off lights and appliances when not in use. They lowered the thermostat in winter, and raised it to 80° F this summer, using ceiling fans more. They also lowered the hot water temperature to 120° F, and sealed up the fireplace flues.

They installed 17 compact fluorescent light bulbs and purchased a new, state-of-the-art lightweight push-type reel mower. Ed says it is much lighter and easier to use than the old mower, and he loves the quiet--he can actually talk to the neighbors while mowing!

Within a month, the Oaksfords will replace all 21 windows in their home with highly efficient thermally-sealed, "low-e" windows.

Move Your Work to Where You Live
Ed Deaton

Transportation: 14.8 tons of CO2 emissions avoided annually
Reduction in use of fossil fuel for transportation: 87%
Annual savings: $1,741

At the time Ed Deaton, owner of Fool's Crow Cycles, heard the Heart of the Earth presentation on global warming, he was making two 26-mile round trips-daily--from his home in the Miccosukee Land Coop to his shop in downtown Tallahassee. In the process of managing a business six days a week and caring for his aging mom, he was putting 26,000 miles a year on his vehicle.

Ed, an avid biker and committed conservationist, took a hard look at the environmental impact of his lifestyle. In January 2001, he began working to make his business Internet-based, and by April he was able to manage his business and work from home five days a week. To top it off, he traded in his Ford Ranger, which got 22 miles per gallon, for a Saturn wagon that gets just over 34 miles per gallon. His next step: Riding his recumbent bicycle when he goes into the shop on Saturdays.

Even $65 electric bills can be slashed
Daryl Nall

Reduction in household energy use: 3.5 tons of CO2 emissions avoided annually
Total reduction in fossil fuel use for electricity: 40%
Annual savings: $275

The Nalls, a retired couple who own a sail boat with solar-powered appliances, have always been conscious of conserving energy. But after Daryl heard Jeff Chanton talk about global warming and the effects of carbon dioxide on climate change at a Heart of the Earth presentation in late fall 2000, she looked for additional ways to reduce their electricity use. From January through April 2001, Daryl and her husband cut their electric bills by 40 percent compared to the same period last year.

Daryl substituted a clothesline for her electric dryer, installed a number of compact fluorescent bulbs, and used a gas grill instead of the electric oven most of the time. The Nalls are conscious of turning off the computer and lights when not in use, and even unplug the TV and VCR to avoid wasting electricity on indicator lights. They disconnected the supplemental electric heat strips on their heat pump; turned the pump off and used a wood stove during the coldest weather; and shut off portions of their 1600 square foot home that they don't use. Finally, Daryl started using cold water to do laundry, an additional energy savings not reflected in these figures (since they have a gas water heater.)

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