Camp Hill

I am writing from the house of a couple of Colombians who just moved to Camp Hill, Alabama. I met them as I stopped on the side of a country road to drink some water. The husband, Ricardo, was talking on his phone outside, and when I heard he was talking spanish, I introduced myself. He invited me in for lunch and I met his wife and kids, and his grandfather. I heard about where they live in Colombia, that the wife's sister married a man from Switzerland, and now lives there. The lunch was delicious and I cannot wait to arrive in Colombia!

The family lived in Cali, Valle, Colombia. This city is about two hours from the Pacific Coast, and it lies on the Pan American Highway--perhaps I will pass through it! They recommend taking the boat from Panama to Cartagena, though, and visiting Guajira--a beautiful city on the Atlantic coast.

I showed them a site, renewus.org, where their landlord can purchase clean energy, and where any of their friends living along the road can purchase it, too. In Alabama, it costs just six bucks per month to guarantee that the energy you pay goes to adding clean energy to the power grid.

The family asked about what they could do to reduce global warming, besides supporting the bill (Climate Stewardship Act). I told them the most important thing an individual can do is to live close to where they work so that their daily commute is short--perhaps walkable or bikable--but at least not a very long daily car ride. Another is to purchase green, clean electricity at renewus.org. Another is to have a car (if any at all) that gets high gas mileage.

The primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions are the way we make electricity and the way we transport ourselves. In both areas, we have technology to make them cleaner, and the Climate Stewardship Act would provide motivation to use that technology.