Welcome!

I've decided to start this blog to document my attempt to be a more responsible and caring inhabitant of our planet. I feel the word stewardship is an appropriate description of this endeavor. Here is the definition of stewardship from Merriam-Webster's dictionary:

"the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care"

In my case, this "something" is two things. First, it is the Earth. We as humans need to take better care of our home. One thing I would really like to do is to reduce my carbon footprint. I think that I can personally make a slight difference in climate change by making adjustments in my lifestyle, but I also feel that this is not enough. For this reason, I would also like to be more involved with policy advocacy and correspondence with the people who represent me in the government. I am very interested in climate change as both a citizen of Earth and as a scientist. I would like my stewardship in this area to extend beyond climate impacts. I want to be more conscious of my choices as a consumer - especially when it comes to food. I am not going to change my life overnight, but I feel that this is sort of an experiment as to what small changes I can make.

Second, I need to be a more caring neighbor to my fellow men and women. This I can do in many ways, if I just get off my butt. I can volunteer with schools to help teach kids about science, I can volunteer through my church, I can give blood more regularly, I can tithe my time and money, or I can be more aware of people who need a helping hand in my daily life in both big and small ways.

More will come in the future. I want this to be a learning process, so I will try to post links that are relevant to my quest. And I will give updates on my successes and failures. I think the next post should be a little background as to why I am suddenly feeling the urge to do this. This blog should have an interesting mix between science and human interest.