Congratulations Al Gore

Last weekend the local newspapers reported that leaf pick up service was starting this week. The problem is, there aren't many leaves available for pick up. Today's real estate travels took me through Monroe, Livingston, Wyoming and Genesee Counties. For the most part, things are still pretty green around here with the exception of the Warsaw and Wyoming, NY areas and even there, I didn't see very many leaves on the ground. In fact, today, October 17th, I took this photo of a shrub in my front yard with new flowers. Tell me again, that there is no such thing as global warming!

I got thinking about global warming a few weeks ago when Rochester Gas and Electric offered us an opportunity to send them a few extra dollars a month to support wind power. We decided to do that although it wasn't an easy decision. On one hand, there is no doubt that traditional power sources have contributed significantly to a very polluted environment. On the other hand, wind mills are not very pretty to look at. Almost ten years ago when my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer we took one last family vacation together. It was a car trip and somewhere between Seattle and Yellowstone National Park we made a stop at some national monument. I don't remember what it was called or even what state it was in but I will always remember the view. From this one point, there was not a single building, road, telephone pole or any other sign of man-kind. And it was quiet! No radios or DVD players, no traffic, not even airplanes overhead. The only sites and sounds were those of nature and I'm quite certain that that was the only instant of my entire life when I wasn't surrounded by all the luxury afforded by man-made civilization.

Is this year's weather truly a sign of global warming? Gosh, even the experts can't agree but there is no doubt that we must stop trashing the Earth. I like to think of myself as an environmentalist but if the truth be known, I like my creature comforts and gadgets too much to honestly call myself a good environmentalist. But I do try to try to make good green decisions. And I applaud the decision to give Al Gore the Nobel Peace Prize for all his efforts and work on behalf of a better understanding of climate change.