It is time to begin to live and work for equality and not profit. Global Warming is not a political idea or an attitude it is two words which represent a crisis in the environment which is simple to understand. To live carelessly on the globe we will ruin the very planet we live in and its balanced natural order. We need to use government, religion, the internet and all educational systems to re focus our minds, hearts and behavior for a new world where waste and consumption are not the mark of success.
Leaders around the globe are concerned about the environment, they are concerned that the human race has been contaminating a perfect Eco system and ask, what should we do? About Time They ask! Many of us are aware and concerned that the calamity of human errors and the consequences we now face are growing out of our control.
The discussions are intense; sometimes diplomatically addressing who is at fault and how much fault, sometimes the focus is on whether the crisis is even real or invented by science or the simple sentiments of ‘doomsdayers’. Sometime the discussions revolve around legislation and what regulations would be fair and ‘do’able. They speak of cutting back 2 % of everyone’s consumption across the board to begin with. For me, much of this misses the point.
We might ASK; How can we live and have this runaway lifestyle of abundance without consuming absolutely everything in the next 1,000 years?
We might ASK; How can we stop wasting, polluting and decimating the beautiful blue planet which took millions of years to evolve?
THE ANSWER possibly is; One person at a time,do not use more than you need and do not waste.
Think for a moment, 75 % of all the food produced is wasted. The clothing industry is saturated now overruns are being shipped by the bale full everywhere. The camera/ computer/TV industry designs things to be replaced every year each with a multitude of different plugs and cords we all detest. Half of what we throw away has not lived its entire life span. We tare down the house and build a new one rather than fixing anything. Change the whole bathroom when the mirror is chipped. We cannot bare to live with any inconvenience.
This idea from the Global Warming summit in France explains out attitude.
Most of us live thinking about our self and immediate family over a period of one day to one year. It may be prudent to be thinking about our place on the planet and one hundred years from now. Part of our human dilemma is that we do not think in planetary terms. Most of us want what we want, when we want it, with no regard for how we want it or the effect it will have for others when we get it. We tend to develop products, use up natural resources, and move massive amounts of stuff from continent to continent with no concern for the next 1,000 years.
We are on the verge of a planetary mess.
Think for one minute the carbon footprint required for your morning coffee in a country where the coffee is not grown. Think of the carbon footprint for the three pairs of sneakers in your closet. Think of the carbon footprint replacing your computer or cell phone every year. Think of everything involved for you to have that small plastic bottle of water in hand instead of waiting till you get home or god forbid be thirsty for 3 hours.
Poorer countries have not had time to put in place adequate legislation to prevent the exploitation of “their” environmental resources. The privileged few have developed a lifestyle with no regard for what they leave in their wake. The wealthy countries cannot seem to stop the consumer culture where more is better and taking even more when we want.
Many people in Africa, India and China are working all day
to buy what they need to get by for one day.
Many of them live on the left overs and second hand stuff. They walk to weekday markets and buy the extra overruns made by industry; TV’s, clothing, food, cars, makeup, kitchen stuff, electronics, blankets, etc. The poor actually do not buy new cars, new cloths, travel to other countries on airplanes, eat imported foods, buy new sports equipment, or stock up on extra anything. Industry produces more than enough by always increasing their volume and production for the poor to live on the wasted overruns at a great cost to the environment and society. Why do companies have to have an annual increase in profits? Who really pays for the profit?
We can all agree the system is out of balance.
The populations in underdeveloped countries mine the resources for foreigners, work in enormous factories owned by foreigners and package all the goods for export to foreigners. Their environments are left devastated by the industrial nations, and its citizens are left poor and forgotten with no infrastructure like hospitals, schools, transportation or housing. They go home at night after a days work, sleep and get up the next day to do it all again, for the privileged few!
It is time to begin to live and work for equality and not profit. We need to use government, religion, the internet and all educational systems to re focus our minds, hearts and behavior for a new world where waste and consumption are not the mark of success.
The first step is to annihilate the idea of Me and Mine, then we begin to realize not only are we connected in this day but throughout time and space while we are on this planet together.
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