Budding trees and flowers are ahead of their normal schedule this spring. The bridal wreath in front of the house will be in full bloom very soon. When I was making June commencement bouquets long ago, the bridal wreath was a staple in the bouquets of iris and lilacs. My climate change observations have more to do with memories like that than actual scientific statistics, but I have no doubts about the phenomenon and our contributions to it.

Extreme weather situations are another part of the evidence persuading me that something is not right with our environment. It’s easier to point fingers at blatant abusers than to recognize the little things my neighbors and I do that exponentially contribute to the growing problems.

I love our wood-burning fireplace. We water our lawn during the summer; we do honor the occasional bans, and we water during the early morning hours. During the hottest part of the year we use air conditioning. We tried the saving plan, but we discovered that the equipment had to strain to catch up. and it runs less frequently and for shorter periods when it’s on, set at a higher temperature. We recycle, use cloth grocery bags, turn off lights when we leave rooms.  Our car is fuel-efficient, and we carpool whenever possible. We should use public transportation more often. It’s easy to find reasons not to schedule around the availability of the light rail or the bus for trips downtown.

The early spring affords us the opportunity to get our annuals planted before Memorial Day, though we will wait with putting our tomato plants into the garden. While I realize that our small efforts at being green are insignificant, that isn’t an excuse to give them up. A small step forward is progress, and it just may ever-so-slightly reduce our personal carbon footprint.