Global warming on the brain

I’m not sure if I’ve been noticing climate change talk the past couple of weeks because it’s out there more than before, or if I’ve just got climate change on the brain because I’ve recently read Ross Gelbspan’s The Boiling Point, and Elizabeth Kolbert’s Man, Nature and Climate Change, but it sure got me to pay attention to the foil top on my Stonyfield yogurt container. “Let your fingers do the marching!” it says, “Take your first virtual step to stopglobalwarming at Stonyfield.com.” So, I go to Stonyfield.com and click on the graphic that matches the lid to find out more.

(Side note: I go through a lot of Stonyfield yogurt and this is the first lid I’ve noticed – although as I click to find out more about the “lids of the month” campaign, I do recall some of the past lids, but never took action or went to their website before now.)

So – what is this virtual step they want me to take to stopglobalwarming? “This virtual march on Washington is a non-partisan effort to bring Americans together to demonstrate to our elected officials that there's a vast consensus that global warming is here now and it's time for our country to start addressing it.” Okay. I’ve heard of that. May as well sign up.

One click takes me to the stopglobalwarming.org page where I can help Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stonyfield (that’s what it says, CE-Yo) who has been marching since October 27, 2005 and has 1,168 marchers in tow (surely more than a thousand people eat Stonyfield yogurt – what’s up with that?) After submitting my sign-up info I immediately get an auto-response e-mail from founder Laurie David (guest editor of the green issue of Vanity Fair that’ll hit newsstands later this month) telling me what I need to do to complete my registration as a marcher. Another click takes me to a special page on stopglobalwarming.org where I can tell the world why I’ve joined the march (“because it is NOT TOO LATE!” I say.) Then they give me a few options to post something about stopglobalwarming.org on my blog – I picked out the grey signup form and the stop global warming logo (now sitting below the rustle the leaf link in my sidebar – so if you haven’t already, sign up. Come on, I just told you how easy it is - plus it's one more thing you can do to stopglobalwarming).

Or you can pick your favorite marcher and sign up with them - how about Gov Schwarzenegger (terminate global warming) or Montana Gov Brian Schweitzer (he's only got 19 marchers and could use a little support.) March with Seattle mayor Greg Nickels or Hilary Clinton or musicians James Taylor or Carole King. Leonardo DiCaprio ranks in the top 10. Even Ross Gelbspan and Elizabeth Kolpert are marching - so pick your favorite celeb and join the march.

And, yes, I know, I’m late in coming to this virtual march, especially since it will culminate on Earth Day, which is in three weeks – but hey – it’s not too late. There's still time.