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Lifestyle Change

Maybe you believe that human impact is negligible to the larger picture of global warming. Even so, doesn’t it just make sense to work on the levels that we can? Any reduction in the problem has to be helpful. The changes we must make to reduce global warming involve creating better air quality and cleaner water, conserving natural ecosystems, and living healthier lifestyles. Regardless of global warming, aren’t these goals worth working for anyway? Change to the next age of the Maya can be traumatic and filled with loss or it can be a creative shift to a new relationship to the earth, nature, and the celestial system we live in. The choice is ours. What shall we do with the future?

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

You’ve certainly heard about reducing your carbon footprint, using fewer resources, recycling, and being responsible for your effect on the planet. You may even have gone to workshops sponsored by government or environmental groups. Do you leave feeling this is all too little too late? You’re certainly justified in feeling disappointed that it took this long to see the problem, but don’t give up! The cumulative impact of each person on the planet is astronomical, and each of us makes a difference. Don’t forget, the planet is a living system with its own homeostatic mechanisms. We don’t have to do the whole thing alone. We simply have to get out of the way of the planet by reducing our impact. Each of us makes a difference!

Codex Cues

Check out the following websites for ideas on how to reduce your carbon footprint:

◆ The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: http://epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

◆ Earth Easy: www.eartheasy.com/article_global_warming.htm

◆ Climate Crisis: www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando

Check with your own town or state for local advice.

Maybe you feel that in order to make a difference you must spend a lot of money putting in solar panels, buying hybrid cars, or replacing all of your appliances. Not so! Making a difference is about changing habits, changing the way we think about how we live on the planet. Little things add up to big differences. If you wait until you have the money for big changes, you may wait right past the moment of action. Here is a quick list of simple habits you can easily change to decrease your impact on the planet. These steps may not save the planet but they will show your respect for the earth:

◆ Turn the water off while you brush your teeth.

◆ Reduce car trips by combining errands.

◆ Reuse your take-away coffee cups or get a travel mug.

◆ Reuse plastic shopping bags or get canvas bags.

Cosmic Caution

Did you know that a five-minute hot shower is equivalent to running a light bulb for 18 hours? You may want to consider that fact when taking extra-long or extra-hot showers!

◆ Turn off lights when you leave the room.

◆ Lower the thermostat on your water heater; most people have it set far hotter than needed.

◆ Change air filters and keep your air conditioners and furnace cleaned and tuned.

◆ Weatherproof windows in the winter.

◆ Reduce, reuse, recycle!

◆ In the winter turn your thermostat down three degrees, and in the summer turn it up three degrees.

◆ A leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water a day; be sure your fixtures are tight.

◆ Carpool whenever possible.

◆ Keep your car tires properly inflated and drive the speed limit!

Changing Relationships

In the end, changing how we act on the planet is one important step in slowing global warming. However, what is truly required is a change in our relationship to the earth. As long as we see ourselves as either masters subjugating nature or victims of cycles we have no control over, we have missed the point. Ironically, people who do not accept the level of human impact on global warming seem to believe that we are both masters and victims simultaneously. What the prophecies show us is that we are neither.

Rather we are part