Creation Care Mom

I know I’ve been away for a few weeks. Even though it isn’t what I want, I realize that writing when I can, rather than being on a consistent schedule may just be where I am in life right now. I’ll be glad when we finally move into our new house and all the prep work is finally over. I am over there 3-4 times a week watering my mini garden. I’ve got both peppers and tomatoes on plants just waiting to ripen. We are waiting on carpet, which likely won’t go in until July 27th and we have to be out of our rental by July 31st. On top of that, I’ve been working on my Etsy store cross-stitch patterns (https://naturetoneedle.etsy.com) and trying to get back in shape after all the transitions last year.

When we moved last year, I basically stopped reading emails. I subscribe to 3 climate newsletters, Heatmap, Katherine Hayhoe, and NYT Climate Forward, as well as a handful of other newsletters. After not reading them for months, I’ve been using this summer to work through my inbox. That means, I’m walking back in time to read the good, the bad, and the ugly about how we as a planet are handling climate change.

It also means I’m getting introduced to new resources out there. One of the cool new resources is the Reuters Climate Monitor. Updated daily, you can see in real time how the temperature in your community today compares to the long term average for that day. For instance, today July 8th, in Ogden, we are 5.8 degrees above normal at 92 degrees today. I suspect that will be significantly higher this weekend when we are predicted to reach 104 degrees! If you want to play with this tool and see what your community is like, you can find it here.

Do you know how your retirement funds might be contributing to the climate crisis? Many funds invest money in fossil fuel production of products. If you want to move your funds somewhere more sustainable, you can check out Fossil Free Funds at https://fossilfreefunds.org/. Voting for our future with our dollars.

Project Drawdown is a leader in researching the science and projects that will get us to “drawdown” the time when we begin removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than we emit. They released a new tool called SHIFT (Super High-impact Initiative for Fixing Tomorrow). You can explore ways which your personal decisions make an impact. Check it out! If you are interested in all the solutions that Project Drawdown has in their catalog, you can explore them here.

One other update, there are now 8 states that have passed rules to allow plug-in solar in the US with two more states awaiting governor’s signatures. These laws give renters and homeowners options to offset some of their power use with small systems that plug directly into an outlet and do not require roof access. Utah was the first and only state to pass a law last year, with 7 states (and hopefully 2 more) passing legislation this year, even more households have a path to reducing their energy costs and carbon emissions. You can see if it is legal in your state at https://pluginsolarus.com/ and also learn more about how these systems work.

Happy Learning!

Arwyn