May 2, 2006 - Day 7 - Week 4 - Work

Today I actually did what I do for a living.  For 16 years, on a full time basis, I have attempted to make sense of our complex and deteriorating environment.  My purpose has been to lend my voice to a chorus of concern about a world that will not sustain a quality of life for future generations unless we shift behavior on a global scale.

Seven years ago I established an environmental talk show and today we taped shows 197 and 198. Four years ago, Alexandra Paul, actress and activist joined Earth Talk Today as my co-host.  Together we select and interview a variety of experts from many different disciplines. We have discussed many environmental subjects and have attempted to present thoughtful sound science on complex issues.  Today was no exception. We tape our shows at Adelphi Studios in Van Nuys California. (See link to Earth Talk Today)

Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, Director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, at the University of Arizona and a multi-disciplinary climate scientist spoke of the urgency of addressing fossil fuel use as it contributes to a warming of the planet.  His research is on sea level rise and drought, two significant threats to all humanity, and seemingly odd bedfellows.  The rate of our climate changing is accelerating at a pace that even scientists like Dr. Overpeck did not expect.

The consequences will be dramatic and immediate in all sectors, including agriculture, ocean food harvesting, human health, and insurance. We all need to be energy conservationists as we own the reality of what is happening.  Our children’s quality of life and health is at stake.

Reading and researching is a big part of what I do on a daily basis. Under the umbrella of Earth Service Inc., the television show is a vehicle for presenting a vision of tomorrow today.  We are viewed in thousands of homes, but the challenge today is greater than ever. There is urgency, and Dr. Overpeck, a renowned scientist echoed this sentiment. It is now up to each of us.

Earth Talk’s next taping is May 22 and we will interview Dr. Dale Kiefer on global ocean pollution and Peter Camaho, who ran for governor of California on the Green Party ticket and will be opening the window to socially responsible investing.  Each month is a challenge to Alexandra and my learning curve.

Currently we are talking with Dr. Samuel Epstein, Director Emeritus of the Center for Cancer Prevention in Chicago. We hope to host him in June.  His expertise is looking at the root causes of cancer with a specific emphasis on the drugs in our milks and meats that we serve children in our schools.  I want to talk with him about lymphoma, prostate and colon cancer, and those cancers that may have an environmental connection.

Once again, I am relying on good science to get well and trusting the medical community to provide for me and millions of others satisfactory protocols for a healthy future. This is accepted and not very controversial today.

Now, let us apply the same trust to the scientists who are presenting compelling data that says we are inching closer to the point of no return that is the tipping point, in many corners of our planet.  Global warming, climate change, sea level rise and melting glaciers are not science fiction but science fact.

Each will affect human health directly.  Let us be prepared.

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