This link uses info graphics and gives some neat historical perspective around recycling. An easy way everyone can help save the world.
http://earth911.com/news/2011/11/15/infographic-the-history-of-recycling/
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Time to rewire our brains
So I keep seeing this Mahatma Ghandi quote on Facebook and bumper stickers that says "the earth can support every man's need, but not every man's greed" and then I read the other day that in a less than 40 short years the planets' human population is expected to balloon to 9 billion people. That Ghandi quote, which I love, may no longer be relevant, because we are racing towards a point where the planet may not be able to sustain even our basic needs. That is unless we do something to change. Why are people always so slow to change, oh wait is it because there are already 7 billion of us? We all need to rewire our brains a bit here. There are so many things that we just take for granted, things that we just accept without putting any thought into them any more. Train your brain to question more. Question the cost of something, not just the price but the actual cost, who suffered to make it so cheap? what land was destroyed in order to make it this junk that I really do not need?, stuff like that. If you start asking yourselves those question you may be on the path to using less, making more, buying smarter, and really being green. And the more you train your brain to ask these questions then the faster this critical thinking style will become a habit, and take over the world to make it better for everyone.
We have to remember that there is always more out there than we see. Case in point, I was part of a trash/litter clean up project the other day. As we were driving to the meeting point, I noticed that the side of the road did not look that dirty. But upon closer inspection, when I was actually out walking, I saw that there was way more than expected. Just because it didn't look dirty didn't mean it wasn't. Ended up there was much more than met the eye. Guess getting out of the car every once in a while can give you some perspective, life may slow down a bit.
I know this post offers no solution other than critical thinking, which I am sure is way oversimplified, but I feel that is going to become a very critical and neccesary part of life, if we expect to keep living. Maybe not as we do currently, but who wants to be an extreme consumer and polluters, that thinks about no one else other than those we make contact with on a regualr basis. This planet is big (24k miles, 40k km), and we are all connected, so do something about it to make it better for everyone (people, animals, all life). Look I am not asking everyone to become a bunch of robots asking the same questions, thinking the same thoughts. That is the beauty of using all these brains, they all think different things, and can come up with some amazing solutions. Putting all these new thoughts together can build great things, and knock down old habitats and traditions that, lets face it, are taking us nowhere fast. I know that all these preachy posts are never read by those who I think need them most, but thank you all the same for letting me "publish" (using that term very loosely here) my therapy session.
We have to remember that there is always more out there than we see. Case in point, I was part of a trash/litter clean up project the other day. As we were driving to the meeting point, I noticed that the side of the road did not look that dirty. But upon closer inspection, when I was actually out walking, I saw that there was way more than expected. Just because it didn't look dirty didn't mean it wasn't. Ended up there was much more than met the eye. Guess getting out of the car every once in a while can give you some perspective, life may slow down a bit.
I know this post offers no solution other than critical thinking, which I am sure is way oversimplified, but I feel that is going to become a very critical and neccesary part of life, if we expect to keep living. Maybe not as we do currently, but who wants to be an extreme consumer and polluters, that thinks about no one else other than those we make contact with on a regualr basis. This planet is big (24k miles, 40k km), and we are all connected, so do something about it to make it better for everyone (people, animals, all life). Look I am not asking everyone to become a bunch of robots asking the same questions, thinking the same thoughts. That is the beauty of using all these brains, they all think different things, and can come up with some amazing solutions. Putting all these new thoughts together can build great things, and knock down old habitats and traditions that, lets face it, are taking us nowhere fast. I know that all these preachy posts are never read by those who I think need them most, but thank you all the same for letting me "publish" (using that term very loosely here) my therapy session.
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