Global Warming: A Visit to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Global warming is one of the most urgent problems facing mankind today. It is also one of the toughest to address. Not only are there difficult technological and scientific issues surrounding a solution to global warming, there are political ones as well. Especially in the United States, global warming is as much a political problem as an environmental one. The United States government is under tremendous pressure from citizens to find a solution to global warming (a phenomenon the government still officially says is under debate) while at the same time protecting the jobs located in the very factories whose pollution has contributed to the very problem of global warming in the first place. Addressing global warming is a delicate business, and one that will likely dominate much of global discourse in the coming decades as mankind works together to find a solution to this absolutely real threat to our very existence on this planet. Global warming is also referred to as climate change, and is being brought about by the burning of fossil fuels and chemical air pollution from the forces of production. Global warming threatens to raise the average surface temperature of the earth by one or more degrees in the next few decades
I liked what Rebecca told me and asked if they held any regular meetings that I could attend. She said that there were no regular meetings as such, as they were an organization and not a club. However, she said that they periodically held new volunteer orientations that involved some basic grassroots campaigning training and lots of pizza. She invited me to attend the next one, to be held in December, if I was interested in getting involved right away. I told her I would definitely consider it, as I thought what they were doing was very important and would like to be a part of finding the solution to global warming. After listening to Rebecca's speech about volunteer opportunities and energy efficiency at home, I asked if she could tell me a bit about the group and how they operate. After all, if I was going to get involved with this organization, I wanted to know what I was getting myself into. Rebecca seemed only too happy to talk about the Alliance. First, though, she handed me a volunteer application to fill out and send back to her after I got home. I learned through my visit that global warming is just one of many energy-related issues that the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy works on promoting, and that global warming is itself intimately connected to clean energy issues. After all, it is issues surrounding energy production and energy sources that have contributed to global warming in the first place. I also learned that the Alliance uses the legislative process and media attention to promote the importance of clean energy to the future of the planet. Seeing as there were many different ways in which I could help the Alliance in its cause, I took home the volunteer application and filled it out. Who knows? I may actually go to that volunteer orientation. And if you hear about a "Party Against Pollution" being held in the area, it's at my place. Rebecca said the most important things I could do, though, were things I could do on my own. She suggested keeping up to date on current energy and global warming issues and writing my congressional representatives about these things, as well as taking energy-saving measures on my own at home. Using compact fluorescent bulbs and setting all my appliances to energy efficient settings would help, as would signing up for green power with my local electric company. She suggested I go to the organization's web site to use a personal energy calculator that would tell me what my current personal energy output was and get suggestions on how to reduce it. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy operates out of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and is a grassroots, activist organization. Th
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Approximate Word count = 1849
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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