Some people have personally responded with encouragement, critique, suggestions and questions. I would like to thank all for having initiated the process of thought. It would have been even better if they would have made their opinions felt more publicly, but you know what they say, something is better than nothing.
There has been a question raised on the following comment in the previous post.
"Every time you buy you vote. Make your vote count. Buy the right things."
My friend asked mi what exactly I meant by this. I intended to cover this later but I figured it would take a lot of time to reach there, so here it is in advance.
BUY LOCAL
In the U.S., the average grocery store's produce travels nearly 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and your refrigerator.ii About 40% of our fruit is produced overseas and, even though broccoli is likely grown within 20 miles of the average American's house, the broccoli we buy at the supermarket travels an average 1,800 miles to get there. Notably, 9% of our red meat comes from foreign countries, including locations as far away as Australia and New Zealand.iii
BUY DURABLE & REUSABLE
Consumer items in particular these days are not made to last and we use them without too much care. Ask your parents or grandparents and they will tell you without any doubt that the things they used to buy used to last way longer than the things available in the market today. 'Use and Throw' is the in thing, what we do not realize is that this comes at an enormous cost to the ecosystem we live in. Our manufacturing system creates 32 truckloads of waste for 1 truckload of usable goods. So we can claim that ours is a waste producing system because that is the larger output in terms of sheer quantity. Energy usage is also a concern and so is the consumption of resources. Maybe you are not aware that humankind has depleted most of the resources that were available on this planet. 'Peak Oil' is not the only concern it is more like peak everything.
BUY ENERGY EFFICIENT
The products that we buy should be energy efficient, if they are not then we are directly wasting energy. A good example would be the use of fluorescent light bulbs to save electricity. More efficient transportation systems, instead of going to work alone in your car you should be carpooling. Mass transit systems are without doubt the best alternative. It is not just an economically practical suggestion but also saves the total energy available to us humans.
EVERY TIME YOU PAY YOU VOTE, MAKE IT COUNT
If people moved towards durable, usable, energy efficient goods and services companies can be forced to make products and services that have these qualities. Start buying energy efficient appliances and the corporate world will be forced to adapt and produce energy efficient products or become extinct.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT : THE ROADS IN INDIA
Have you ever thought if all the roads in India would be made better what the result could be ?
1. Higher fuel efficiency of vehicles
2. Lower wear and tear of vehicles thus, lowering the cost of replacement and maintenance
3. Lesser pollution
4. Lower expenditure on repairing and remaking the roads
5. Lesser number of accidents.
6. Lower cost of petroleum imports.
The government doesn't need to give subsidies on fuel at least not the kind of amount it gives. It can spend all that taxpayer money into building better roads and the benefits would increase over time. But that does not happen and it will not happen if left to them. The system needs a push. We need to become less focused on the short term gain and look at the larger picture.
If you think about it all these choices translate into personal actions and a change in personal beliefs. Also one needs to actively try to explain the situation to those around them so that there can be a greater effect.
A very good place to find people involved in such activities is this portal called Celsias…
Their tag line being "Climate change is not a spectator sport." You can signup over there (for free) and find people fighting climate change, energy depletion and a host of other issues. One of the best features on the portal can be found on this link…
On this link you will find actions that you can take to save our planet, simple things that we do in our daily lives. Go check it out; you don't even have to sign up to check out the activities listed. Why I have been encouraging people to have a look at this website is because it gives you an opportunity to be inspired, to be an inspiration or just to find a sense of community. For mi it has been one of those very few groups where one can find likeminded ordinary people trying to do whatever they can do, trying their best to make a conscious choice to improve the situation. Also, just for the record I am not on their payroll, as I have explained in an earlier post I am doing this for myself and consequently for my clan.
Every choice made by every person, family, clan, society and the human race adds up to the consequences that we face today, the out of balance and unsustainable world that we live in today. The stakes could not be higher, as I will attempt to explain in the forthcoming posts, today our civilization stands on the brink of total annihilation, if we do not realize the gravity of the situation and act immediately all will be lost.
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1 comments:
After being exposed to the numerous 'wonders' of technology, people are fascinated with these gadgets, software, services etc... especially when we achieved objectives once thought to be impossible like flying, e-mail, cellphones, space travel, live broadcasts etc.
These in turn made the impression that anything and everything is possible with the help of technology. So the same applies to all that you have mentioned. People assume that there will be technology to take care problems created by technology such as pollution, water scarcity, energy issues, global warming etc.
similar to the way antivenoms are created with the help of the venom itself.
So everyone 'assumes' that someone is taking care of all these problems instead of being pro-active themselves. Alas....
Men are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
By the time the human race realizes, it will all boil down to survival of the fittest...so may the best man survive! (though I guess he will have a lot to clean up ;-) )
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