ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, NEVADA, NEW MEXICO, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, UTAH: WHY YOU SHOULD BE VERY, VERY CONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

You can tell when I am catching up on my reading. Here is a post that was printed on Joe Romm's Climate Progress more than a year ago. I just reread it, and was struck full force again by its power; it is based on an LA Times piece about climate change in Australia. It is devastating. And it is more pertinent now, after recent elections, and rising threats among DC politicians and lobbyists to cripple, if not dismantle, our amazing Environmental Protection Agency. One of the things that makes me so proud to be an American is that we live in a country where polluters are not (entirely) allowed to ruin the air we breath and the water we drink. Well, that's the theory, anyway. And it has worked, to some extent--but there's more work to be done.

What is so moving about the LA Times piece is that it puts a human face on the tragedy unfolding in Australia--the suicides, the bankruptcies, the loss of family farms. Scientists here point to Australia as a leading indicator for what climate change will look like in the American Southwest. Are you there, Arizona? And California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah. Actually, a group called HEAL Utah has just issued an impressive report imagining a "green" future; California just fought back dirty oil on Prop 23. There's good news all around--which means there is hope for change. But there's still too much bad news too. We have to keep up the pressure for change. I can only imagine--with a shudder--what our children are going to think of our dithering twenty years from now.

Not bedtime reading. And not to worry: I'm not going to devote Slow Love Life space exclusively to this issue. Its just that I'm doing a lot of thinking about climate change, as I consider my New Year's resolutions. I've been looking back on the year, weighing up what has given me real pleasure and pride, and what has been a waste of time, frankly. High on my list of what feels good? Advocacy. Doing my part to help shed light, and hope, on what I consider the greatest problem ever to face humankind: Global warming.

Also high on my list? Slow Love Life, and all of you who have joined the conversation. Thank you. We have a gorgeous planet. Let's cherish it.