Think globally, act locally!

Whether you agree or disagree that global warming is real and our planet is headed toward catastrophe, we all pay utility bills. Those bills are invariably going up, while that debate goes on endlessly.

One thing is for sure: When the sun sets on New Year's Eve, the decade of the 2000s will end as the warmest ever on global temperature charts.

What lies ahead? Likely the continued rise in temperatures, buildup of greenhouse gases, weather extremes, increasing drought and elevating seas. In addition, more costly utility bills for all of us, everywhere.

So what can ordinary people, like you and I do to keep utility costs down? Efficiency, conservation, smart use of technology, and knowing where and how to save money and energy.

That’s the purpose of this blog and eventual website, myBTU.com. My blog will encourage, suggest and implore people to think globally, act locally, urging all of us to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in our own communities, homes and jobs. I will write this blog to inform, advocate and preach because I’ve seen firsthand as journalist and former non-profit executive with a fuel fund how all of us as consumers are left purposely in the dark about how and why energy costs escalate and how we are manipulated.

I’ll talk more in the future posts about that. Now, I want detail what I’ll focus in this blog:
• I’ll support and discuss what new and working with green technology
• I’ll post and point to information that will hold the fossil-fuel industry accountable for its pollution
• I’ll point out individual steps and products you can use, buy, investigate and invest in to conserve energy at home and at work. This will include product reviews and suggestions.
• I’ll push the use of valid alternative and renewable energy, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and nuclear power
• I’ll keep an eye on energy policy – worldwide, nationwide and state by state -- because without informed and enlightened governmental road map, we are doomed.

Much if what you are seeing in the media now around the Copenhagen Climate Summit is diffuse and contrictory. One reason is because it’s ongoing coverage, which reports nuances of the negotiations and protests.

It’s sport, really, watching the multiple diplomats, scientists, experts and politicans jockey and jaw about content of the penultimate agreements. It’s like reporting on a sporting contest, play by play, moment by moment, but really want counts is the outcome, who wins and loses.

A win in Copenhagen is a new global political and economic agreement aimed at creating the outlines of a new treaty that can succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

However, be skeptical of what comes out of Copenhagen. Global political and economic pressures are enormous, and for the sake of compromise, any agreement will be problematic.

But be clear about one thing: Global warming is real enough. Do you think the release of the University of East Anglia e-mails weeks before the summit wasn’t designed to discredit climate change science and its researchers? “Climate-gate,” which it’s been dubbed, is a diversion.

Read what one of the best worldwide newsgathering organization, the Associated Press, had to say about Climategate in its investigation of the e-mails. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRa5F7Lv_zO0ZKaHmbQENlyV3KdgD9CHUS980
E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data — but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by The Associated Press.

So, we are off and running. Let me know what you think of the blog. All suggestions, comments, product ideas are welcome.