Don't get depressed about global warming

Yesterday, I told my friends Linda and Yeon that I started a blog and they were all excited until I told them it is about global warming. And then they said, "Oh." A few minutes later my friend Linda asked me "what do you write about?" And I said, "oh, you know, serious things, funny things."

Linda looked straight at me and said "what's funny about Global Warming?"

And well the answer is nothing. Nothing's funny about global warming. Global warming is depressing. But here's the paradox- I can't afford to get depressed about it. Once I get depressed I feel overwhelmed and hopeless and do nothing. The reality is that we people can only take so much bummer before we start breaking down. So regardless of the reality of the situation I choose optimisim because I function better on it.

I was really depressed in my late teens and early twenties, and I think a lot of it had to do with my need to save the world from impossibly bad environmental problems. In the end, I started to get better because I realized my job was to live my own life, not to fix things. I don't generally save the world on weekends and I don't focus on just how bad environmental problems really are. I am okay with not being right.

The other great thing about not being right is that you leave room for the unknown. The truth is we don't know what will happen with global warming because it hasn't happened yet. We don't know how bad it will be or how much people will rise to the challenge. There is also room for hope and for faith in humanity.

The Maryland House of Delegates passed the Clean Cars Act yesterday. Let's see what else can be done with leadership and goodwill before we all get depressed about Global Warming.