I recall a grade school game where we would emphasis various words in the same sentence by shouting the word to give a different emphasis to the message. “YOU are going to take out the trash.” “You are GOING to take out the trash.” “You are going to take out the TRASH.”

I was thinking about this play on words after listening to the news headlines about global warming and another report confirming that it’s not “on it’s way…it’s here.” That ‘s why the weather patterns are so extreme.  (duh) Heat, floods, and even avalanches and earthquakes all seem to be Mother Earth trying to purge herself of..us?!

Always the optimist, I wondered if we couldn’t just all adopt the practice of believing, “I Can Do Something.”

Then I started playing with the emphasis of the words…

I can do something.  Yes, me.  I don’t have to wait on anyone else.  I can walk not ride.  I can not use, but instead reuse and recycle. I can do little things every day that add up to taking care of MYSELF by taking care of the air I breathe, the water I drink, the land I live on. I really have so much power over my life, but most people spend endless amounts of time and energy waiting on and blaming others for just about anything and everything.  “I” really determine my life.

i CAN do something.  CAN means it is possible.  There is always something that CAN be done right now to improve the environment around you.  CAN gives us hope.  I hear the despair in friends, newscasters and world “leaders.”  Have we really given up? CAN makes us think about options.  It opens our minds to wondering what else CAN I do today that helps…drink from a mug at the coffee shop, not a paper cup.

i can DO something.  For thirty years, NIKE has told us to “Just Do It.” I agree.  Quit the paralysis analysis. A very trite phrase, but true, yes?  DO something, anything productive right now.  Act, stop thinking.  DO, don’t wait on “proof.”  Your gut tells you that using plastic bottles and plastic bags can’t be good.  So don’t use them, starting now.

i can do SOMETHING. Just pick one thing, right now.  Several easy solutions have been mentioned already in this essay: walk don’t ride; no plastic; canvas bags reused, no plastic or paper bags. Imagine if you only did these things every day starting today.  Walking will improve your personal health and the environment.  No plastic reduces the need for petroleum production (plastic is an oil based product) plus animals will be safer from choking of plastic trash, and earth will just be cleaner.

It’s not complicated.  Don’t make this a big deal that overwhelms you.  You don’t have to save the whole world at once.  Just save your part of the world today.  Believe …

“I Can Do Something.”