When the last tree falls, when the last river is polluted and when there is not a breath of clean air left, people will realize you can’t eat money.
Anonymous
Okay, maybe not exactly what my blog is about, but it seems to be an extreme version of a general statement I seem to be making lately.
Us humans, we suck at taking care of the world. Especially us Americans. We worry about money and comfort before anything else. And, surprise! Not only is the level of comfort we’ve created dangerous due to complacency, lack of personal growth and physical and emotional health, but the resources we’ve depleted for these comforts could bring about some extreme situations if nobody did anything to slow it down.
I believe that, beyond personal morals, there are natural consequences to our actions. If we are selfish we lose our friends. If we eat too much it kills us. If we continually seek bigger ways to satisfy our desires, the earth won’t always be able to support it. I don’t think that’s God, necessarily; it’s logical cause and effect. (Whether God created that logic is another idea entirely.)
Do I think we’re going to get to the extreme highlighted in the above quote? No. Do I think it’s no coincidence that our wasteful lifestyle caused a recession to help prevent that? Yes. Plus, we have people like the TEDsters who are actively seeking out solutions to many of our problems.
The fact that these nonscientific tests are sponsored by Volkswagen sour the deal a bit for me. But the theory is great: make people do good things by making them fun to do.
It’s hardly a revolutionary idea, but it’s one of the first times I’ve seen someone make a considerable effort to test it out.
But I have questions: Would it get annoying if all our trash cans and stair cases made noise? Would these ideas hold up over time? If the idea becomes commonplace, does it remain fun? What useful tasks do we do regularly that don’t lose their enjoyment factor?
I guess my point is that, yes, we need to find ways to encourage people to recycle and exercise, but I wonder if our nature as humans will “evolve” to resist such things once the fun wears off.
And then I wonder why it is some of us are more health- and earth-conscious and others are not. Perhaps we need to narrow that down and figure out what makes those people tick versus those that choose to be wasteful and slobby.
I’ve been excited about the effects of this recession. No, seriously. When the natural consequences of our irresponsibility arise, there is no choice but to adapt, learn from our mistakes and figure out how to be more responsible.
This video gives me hope for what might happen. The signs of hope seem small right now, but perhaps a few more years of this will help them to grow.
I especially love the part technology is playing in this. It’s amazing how it’s helping people work together to find ways to save money, spend it wisely and use the resources we have in the best way possible.
Sometimes I try to come up with ideas for how, as a web developer, I can play a larger part in promoting the responsibility of our culture. Do I build a directory for food co-ops? A wiki where people share tips on how they’ve saved on groceries or their gas bill? A Facebook application for ride-sharing?
Does anyone have any ideas for how the Internet, social networking or mobile technology would help you find ways to promote sustainability, local community and responsible living? Maybe we can do something together.
I hope that we as a society and a world can understand and latch on to Carolyn Steel’s ideas about how to manage this earth we live on in a way that benefits us as well as the earth. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and right now, humans are abusing the privilege.
I feel challenged to think more about how I plan my week of cooking, and how if I were to actually plan meals ahead of time for my week, I could not only save money, but I could be healthier personally and be a step closer to controlling where my food comes from and how it’s made by being conscious of where I buy from. Our country really could stand to get back to cooking and eating at home together again. It would do a lot for our health, our economy and our social wellbeing.
Finally, the fact Steel mentions here, that in the western world it takes ten calories of energy to produce one calorie of food, completely blows my mind and further encourages me to think about the “miles per calorie” as far as where my food comes from.
As if I needed another reason to talk about changing our eating habits, here comes a piece from TIME that’s equally insightful and shocking.
As the developing world grows richer, hundreds of millions of people will want to shift to the same calorie-heavy, protein-rich diet that has made Americans so unhealthy — demand for meat and poultry worldwide is set to rise 25% by 2015 — but the earth can no longer deliver. Unless Americans radically rethink the way they grow and consume food, they face a future of eroded farmland, hollowed-out countryside, scarier germs, higher health costs — and bland taste. Sustainable food has an elitist reputation, but each of us depends on the soil, animals and plants — and as every farmer knows, if you don’t take care of your land, it can’t take care of you.
All of a sudden I have a large handful of reasons to eat even less meat and buy more local, sustainable and organic foods.
I read once that the average American eats seven times as much meat than their body needs. If meat products take significantly more energy to produce than the vegetables and fruits we should be eating and cost more to buy and prepare, we could have a major impact on the American obesity problem, the environment and the economy all at once if we cut our meat intake down to what it should be.
But will it happen? I doubt it. We Americans love our meat, and so do our government officials who get lobbied by meat lovers. Funded by steak- and hamburger-lovers everywhere!
