The Butterfly Effect

Posted by Shirley Siluk Gregory Feb 23, 2007

The concept of the "butterfly effect" -- how small actions can ripple outward through time and space to create massive changes -- has been around for a long time, long before the movie of the same name, even before Ray Bradbury's short story, "A Sound of Thunder," of time travel gone horribly wrong. The butterfly effects of global warming and environmental damage we're beginning to see today, though, are not works of fiction but very real -- and potentially devastating -- signs of a changing world.

Small increases in ocean temperatures, for example, can result in dramatic changes to coral reefs, driving out the small organisms that color and feed live corals, leading to coral bleaching and -- eventually, possibly -- to death of the reef, the loss of millions in tourist dollars and the exposure of vulnerable beaches and coastlines to far worse erosion and wave-borne storm damage.

So too can small temperature increases mean the difference between stable ice sheets or accelerated melting, which -- in turn -- can lead to higher sea levels, major property losses in coastal areas, drastic changes to such cities as New York, London and Hong Kong, and -- even more frightening -- a possible slowdown or shutdown of the Atlantic ocean conveyor belt that today helps keep much of Europe comfortably habitable.

That's why it's so important for all of us, now more than ever, to live mindfully, respectfully and responsibly -- to live green lifestyles that are as sustainable as possible. Because every little action each of us takes could make the difference between the gentle flutter of a butterfly's wings or the deafening thunder of a rising ocean tide.