(By Sasha Abelson, Guest Blogger to the Climate Program)

I have been searching for the right word to describe a particular phenomenon and concluded that such a word does not (yet) exist.  The phenomenon I am speaking of is as follows: upon becoming aware of a piece of information previously unknown to you, you become hyper-sensitized to that information.  You now to see it, hear it and read it everywhere.

Take the nurdle for example.  I had never heard the word until a scientist from Heal the Bay mentioned the nurdle in her lecture[i].  Nurdles are small plastic pellets which are melted down to create nearly everything made of plastic.  These nurdles escape from factories and often end up on beaches where they become a significant source of ocean and beach pollution.  Nurdles are frequently mistaken by marine life for fish eggs, and find their way into their digestive tracts causing starvation.  After learning of the nurdle, no longer is a stroll on the beach just a stroll on the beach.  Now, my eye cannot avoid spotting these tiny balls of brightly colored plastic.  This is what I have coined the Nurdle Effect. 

My recent submersion into the world of carbon credits has triggered the same phenomenon.  I can see my carbon footprint everywhere, waning and waxing depending on the choices I make.  I find myself at dinner, staring at the menu to determine the affect a hamburger, verses a tofu brown rice bowl, will have on my carbon footprint.  Is washing the dog bed with my laundry really that bad?  (If you met my dog, you would indeed agree, it is that bad.) 

I have become acutely aware of how much energy I use and in turn how much CO2 I output and this has caused me to rethink nearly everything I do.  I constantly see ways both big and small, to reduce my carbon footprint.  I realize that achieving a smaller carbon footprint must occur at the corporate level as well as with each one of us.  The first step is to changing our behavior as individuals, is to become aware of the issue.   Thank you nurdles!

[i] (Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB258 that aims to address the problem the nurdle poses to marine life.  http://www.healthebay.org/news/2007/10_18_ab258signed/default.asp)