Dean Knuth/Arizona Daily Star

Other articles by Doug Kreutz:

Grand indeed Silverbell Lake a scene ever-serene Arizona Trail moves forward The best of your bolts Coronado Memorial mixes history, nature Old chapel gets new life Rest, rejuvenate, recover San Pedro River ideal for birding Tombstone history runs deep Bear Canyon is not to be missed

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Yavapao College
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Frog & Firkin
Server Legal
McBan Law Offices
Legal Secretary

Global warming is one of those things — like cancer, like war in the Middle East, like a loved one's drug addiction — that we wish would just go away on its own.

Disappear. Get out. Be gone.

That's not going to happen anytime soon, scientists say.

Reversing the hot plague of global warming, they maintain, calls for swift, decisive, large-scale changes in the way we live.

It calls for effective solutions and the will to put them into effect.

Today, in the Earth Day conclusion of our three-day presentation on the effects of global warming in Southern Arizona, we look at ways and means of literally regaining our cool — or at least taking the first steps toward slowing the rate of warming.

Among our options:

● Tap the sun. Solar energy is widely regarded as a viable source of energy, and our region is graced with a mother lode of sunshine.

● Conserve energy. Possibilities range from adjusting thermostats to using public transportation or a bicycle whenever it's feasible.

● Recycle. Garbage in landfills generates a greenhouse gas known as methane. By reducing the amount of garbage we dump, we might reduce methane in the atmosphere. On another front, refurbishing and reusing everything from household items to automobiles means we save the energy needed to produce replacements.

● Switch to alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel or compressed natural gas. Consider buying a hybrid vehicle.

● Harness the wind. Using updated, high-tech reincarnations of the old-fashioned windmill, wind farms could provide a clean alternative to polluting power plants.

● Use fluorescent light bulbs instead of common incandescent bulbs, which produce heat in addition to light.

● Weatherize your home by caulking, replacing the windows or taking other steps to make it more energy-efficient.