After two weeks, hours of negotiations and plenty of jockeying for position, the leaders of the world let the citizens of the world down by leaving Copenhagen with very little progress. Rather than us focus on what they didn’t do, maybe the lesson from Copenhagen is that we really do need to take action into our own hands. Yes, small actions, large actions, whatever we can do to improve and save our planet.  Some people complain about the “faddish” green movement and how it’s only become a marketing ploy. And for sure, many of the biggest polluters have added “green” campaigns to their marketing budgets. But I think the fizzling of Copenhagen is all the more reason why we should embrace the small changes, the compact fluorescent light bulbs, recycling, buying products that are made in “green” ways, etc. Sure, they are small and seemingly insignificant things, but it all adds up. And given the economy, it may be all that some of us are able to do. Maybe we can’t ask struggling families to buy hybrid cars, eat only organic food, or buy organic green-friendly clothing. But we can ask them and ourselves  to recycle their waste, use energy efficient light bulbs, walk more and drive less.

So let’s not be sad about lack of progress at Copenhagen. Let’s be positive about the fact that each of us can do things that will help. We can all be a part of the solution. At the turn of the New Year, we’ll post our  ”IF” List for well documented things we can all do in our daily lives to that will collectively make a difference.  See you next year!