Welcome to globalwarming.change.org!

by Emily Gertz

Published October 08, 2008 @ 04:11AM PT

I'm thrilled to be kicking off this new resource devoted to global warming. It will be devoted to news, information, opinion, yes -- and also to finding the bridges from knowledge to taking effective action.  

Despite the obvious seriousness of the climate crisis, it's an exciting time.  Global warming has become a topic of public discussion and debate like never before.  States have stepped in where the federal government has left a void, forming regional and international coalitions to cut greenhouse gas pollution. Green became The New Black a few years ago, giving us many new options as consumers to support products, producers and retailers that reflect our desire for truly sustainable (and socially just) systems of production.

And given the professed climate action-friendly policies of both presidential candidates, there is real reason to hope that in 2009,  the United States (the world's greatest greenhouse gas polluter) may finally become a responsible global citizen and join the worldwide effort to stop climate destabilization.

About Your Host

I'm a journalist and editor covering the environment, technology, science, and more. I have written for Dwell, Grist, Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, and other publications. 

I was one of the original cast of bloggers for Worldchanging.com -- and was managing editor of the site during the fall of 2007.  I also contributed several sections to our book Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century, which was first published in 2006 and came out in paperback earlier this year.  

Although I've written on topics as diverse as modern chemicals and human fertility, Arctic warming and Inuit human rights, and over-development on the Mississippi River, my most famous article to date is probably still "Naughty by Nature: Ever Thought About the Toxins in Your Sex Toys?" for Grist -- which was also the basis for the Treehugger TV video feature "How to Buy a Green Sex Toy."  

Just out of college, neck-deep in the environmentalist and Cold War anxieties of the Reagan era, I styled myself an activist.  As such I worked for some nonprofits, including a stint as a canvasser and campaign assistant with Greenpeace. (And, I did a semester abroad in the Soviet Union, studying Russian and learning the hard way not to go drinking with Muscovites.)  

During and following graduate school at the University of Oregon, however, I began to look for ways to approach social progress that seemed more fundamentally transformative (and that, for me, would be more professionally satisfying and less likely to induce a permanent state of panic).  

Whether becoming a web producer met the first goal is arguable; however, it was fun work that led me into a career as an online content/IT consultant and content strategist -- work I have continued to do (largely but not exclusively within the non-profit sector) in parallel with journalism, for the past several years.