CLINTON – With nearly two feet of snow on the ground, it hardly seems the best time to be talking about “global warming,” but climate experts disagree. Scientists around the globe insist that “bad” weather such as last week’s 2,000 mile blizzard in the U.S. is as surely related to global warming as the increasing average temperatures around the world.
While there is little we can do about the snow but shovel it, there is, according to environmental scientists, much we can do about global warming.
An explanation of how global warming is affecting Iowa and how Iowa is affecting global warming will be the centerpiece of the free program offered from 2-3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 13, at The Canticle, home of the Sisters of St. Francis, 841 13th Ave. N., Clinton. Sponsored by the Clinton Franciscan Center for Active Nonviolence and Peacemaking, the program is the third in the Center’s series: Sustainable Clinton.
“The dead of winter seems the perfect time to talk about global warming in Iowa,” explained Center coordinator Laura Anderson. “The Cancun Accord, signed in Mexico in December by all the world’s nations, acknowledges that carbon emissions are a major cause of global warming; that there is something that the human race can do to control such emissions and that it is critical that we begin immediately. On Sunday afternoon, we as Midwesterners will look honestly at our role in global warming and how we can help turn down the temperature.”
“Our focus will be on our local impact on global warming,” said Anderson. “The purpose of our Sustainable Clinton series is to encourage all of us to look at our individual choices and how they ‘ripple out’ into the current of global ecology. With the help of new video presentations and current statistics, we hope to clarify the discussion of this ‘heated’ topic and find ways we can each reduce our carbon footprint.”
The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. Call Sisters of St. Francis, (563) 242-7611 or visit www.clintonfranciscans.com.
