Do you enjoy driving by those gas stations with the horrendously bright lights–sometimes dozens of them? Last night on my way home from the airport I took a different route. And somewhere, I think it was on Miles Road in Warrensville Heights, I passed a new building that was so freaking lit up–at 7:30 pm–that I thought I was driving by a major government interrogation/torture center where they never let you close your eyes or sleep.

Anyway, between our use of gas and those lights, we’re screwing up nature’s elegant plans. From this Washington Post article comes: “Americans’ prodigious energy use — from the gas that fuels massive SUVs to the coal that keeps the light and heat on in sprawling suburban homes — comes at a cost. Burning fuel spews carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into the air, which in turn traps heat and, most scientists believe, is accelerating global climate change that is melting glaciers, altering animals’ breeding and migration patterns, and boosting temperatures around the globe. “

If we don’t curb ourselves, nature’s going to do it for us. Why do we have to put our heads in the sand and wait for a climate crisis? I guess because denial and reactivity are easier than taking a stand before we have to. Sigh.